Claiborne eliminates Porter's Chapel
Southern Sports & Travel
The Claiborne Rebels used a 9-2 opening third quarter run and got 26 points from 6’2” sophomore Calvin McKinney to upset third ranked Porter’s Chapel 62-60 yesterday in round two action at the Class A State Tournament in Marks, Mississippi.
Claiborne advances to today’s semi-finals where they will face second ranked Glenbrook this evening at 6:00.
With the exception of a 14-14 first quarter tie Porter’s Chapel controlled the entire first half and held a 31-26 advantage with 2:15 remaining in the second quarter but Claiborne’s Calvin McKinney was just getting warmed up.
The sophomore drained a critical 3-pointer from the wing to trim the deficit to two points at 31-29 to close out the scoring in the first half.
Claiborne came out of intermission on fire.
David Lewis drilled a 3-pointer from the wing thirty seconds into the third quarter to give Claiborne their first lead at 32-31 and Kyle Acklin hit a baseline jumper to put the Rebels up 34-31.
(Above) Claiborne's Al Laghari (#3) and Talbot Buys (#34) of PCA fight for a rebound
Lewis extended the Rebel run with a driving lay-in at the 6:00 mark and Calvin McKinney converted a Porter’s Chapel turnover into a transition basket to give the Rebels a 38-33 lead with 4:19 remaining in the quarter.
Porter’s Chapel roared back with seven straight points and reclaimed the lead at 40-38 on Alton Burden’s floater off the glass at the 1:29 mark.
Back came Claiborne with a backdoor bucket from Taylor Tuggle and a 3-pointer from David Lewis to put Claiborne on top 43-40 but PJ Lassiter brought the Porter’s Chapel faithful to their feet with a long 3-pointer at the horn to knot the game at 43-43 to close out the third quarter.
The first four minutes of the fourth quarter would produce two ties and four lead changes but at the 3:51 mark Claiborne would take the lead at 52-50 on a Kyle Acklin offensive rebound and put back, plus one.
Acklin’s basket was followed by Calvin McKinney’s driving basket, plus one, at the 2:54 mark to give Claiborne their biggest lead of the game at 55-50.
McKinney drained a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 1:12 remaining in regulation to again extend Claiborne’s lead to five points at 60-55 and force a Porter’s Chapel timeout.
(Above) Claiborne's David Lewis (#1) in a pinch
Porter’s Chapel came out of the timeout and got two Taylor Rushing free throws at the 1:12 mark and the Eagles cut the Claiborne lead to one point at 60-59 on a steal and lay-in from Ted Brisco with 54 seconds left.
Claiborne looked to Calvin McKinney to preserve the lead and the sophomore did just that as he converted on a driving lay-in to give the Rebels a 62-59 lead with 21 seconds remaining.
Porter’s Chapel got to the free throw line with 11 seconds left and hit on the second of two free throws to narrow the deficit to 62-60 and junior Ted Brisco stole the Claiborne in-bounds pass and immediately called timeout with 10 seconds remaining and Porter’s Chapel with possession and a chance to tie or win the game but the Eagles two shot attempts were unsuccessful during a wild final 10 seconds.
“Porter’s Chapel is a tremendous team,” said Claiborne head coach Wade Heigle.
“We had a hard time matching up against them because they are Class AAA athletic and each time we thought we had them they would hit a shot.”
“I was proud of Calvin McKinney today, he carried us offensively.”
McKinney led Claiborne (19-9) with a game high 26 points, David Lewis added 15, Kyle Acklin 9 and Al Laghari and Taylor Tuggle 6 each.
Porter’s Chapel (26-5) was led by Ted Brisco with 20 points, Kawayne Gaston added 17, PJ Lassiter 13, Alton Burden and Talbot Buys 4 each and Pete Harris 2.
