By By Rocky Higginbotham
JAN. 13, 2001
Kemper County assistant coach Robert Sudberry made an agreement with his players to run suicides if they beat Northeast Lauderdale Friday night.
Sudberry may regret the move this morning when he gets out of bed, because the Wildcats didn't let him forget.
Kemper County put three players in double figures and used a big edge on the glass to down Northeast 64-58 in the marquee matchup of the 2001 Sam Dale/Walter Ethridge Memorial Tournament Friday.
The other boys' game at Northeast was also a good one, as Southeast Lauderdale held off Enterprise, 71-63.
Kemper can make it a clean sweep of the tourney today when the Wildcats take on Enterprise at 5:45 p.m. The 8:15 boys' game tonight pits cross-county rivals Northeast and Southeast.
Kemper County boys 64, Northeast Lauderdale 58: The Wildcats overcame 22 turnovers, but the host Trojans could not overcome missed opportunities.
Northeast and Kemper were tied at 23 at halftime, then the Wildcats opened the second half with nine straight points seven of them by Chris Davis.
But Northeast answered, pulling within 32-29 on a putback by Clinton Hales. That forced Jackson into a timeout, and his team maintained its three-point edge at 38-35 heading into the final period.
The first four minutes of the fourth quarter was the Boyd show for Kemper. It's when Derrick Boyd scored all 13 of his points, and 6-foot-7 big man Kenny Boyd got an old-fashioned three-point play on a putback.
The two Boyds combined for all 20 of Kemper's points in the first six minutes of the final period, as the Wildcats opened up their biggest lead at 58-45.
Northeast twice got it within eight, but Kemper's James Moore hit four straight free throws before the Trojans finished the game with six unanswered points in the final 30 seconds.
Kenny Boyd had 16 points, 10 rebounds and five blocked shots and Derrick Boyd scored 13 to lead Kemper, which is now 14-8. Moore had 11 points and eight assists, RonTerrian Dale had eight points and eight rebounds, Davis scored seven points and Kendrick Gale had seven rebounds and six assists.
Jimmy Kelly led Northeast with 18 points, and he also had seven rebounds and three steals. Hales scored 13 and Marcus Betts seven. Stephen Dyess added six points, three steals and two blocks, DeKenno Winston scored six and Jamaal Martin had seven rebounds and three steals.
Southeast Lauderdale boys 71, Enterprise 63: The Tigers earned their second victory of the season by jumping all over the Bulldogs, then holding off Enterprise.
Southeast led by double digits after one quarter, stretched that lead to as many as 25 and was up 38-17 at halftime.
Enterprise stormed back behind junior forward Corey Boggan, getting as close as 55-52 early in the fourth quarter.
But the Tigers, woeful from the free throw line during the first six minutes of the final quarter, got four straight freebies from Anthony Horner to nail down the victory.
Horner, who hit five 3-pointers, finished with a game-high 38 points. Jonathan Russell added 12 points and Ben Reed scored eight.
Boggan finished with 29 to lead Enterprise, while Bryan Bester had 16 points and Mitchell Burns seven.
Rocky Higginbotham is the sports editor of The Meridian Star. E-mail him at rhigginbotham@themeridianstar.com.