By By Marty Stamper/The Meridian Star
Dec. 28, 2001
DECATUR – The Leake Academy and Starkville Academy boys advanced to the semifinals of the fifth-annual MPSA Mississippi Classic at East Central Community College with quarterfinal victories Thursday.
Leake hammered Lamar School 79-55, while Starkville pulled away from Heidelberg Academy for a 60-40 victory.
Newton County Academy and Winston Academy remained alive in the losers' bracket with wins.
In today's boys' games, Newton County Academy, 5-8, plays Lamar School, 2-6, at 11:30 a.m. and Winston Academy, 10-2, takes on Heidelberg, 9-4, at 2:30 p.m. in losers' bracket games.
In the winner's bracket, Leake Academy, 12-1, faces University Christian School, 11-3, at 5:30 p.m. and Washington School, 9-2, meets tourney favorite Starkville, 12-1, at 8:30.
Leake 79
Lamar 55
The Rebels put five players in double figures as they improved to 12-1.
Leake led 20-13 after one quarter, 46-27 at halftime, and by as much as 32 points (72-40) in the fourth quarter.
Drew Wolverton led Leake with 16 points with Joshua Chamblee scoring 15. Allen Byrd added 11, while Justin Chancellor and Jay Gulley both had 10. Trey Langston added seven. Leake lost Luke Culpepper with a knee injury early in the first quarter.
Lamar coach Tristan Howell played for Shepard at Leake.
Lamar, 2-6, got 21 points from Cooper Huff, 13 from Daniel Harrison, 10 from David Haggard, and six from Jace Hill.
Starkville 60
Heidelberg 40
The Volunteers outscored Heidelberg in each of the first three quarters in building a 46-23 advantage.
Heidelberg, 9-4, got a game-high 21 points from Blake Bass, seven from Jonathan Cranford, and six from Dusty Bass.
Starkville led 12-8 after one quarter and carried a 29-16 lead into halftime.
Edward Phillips led the Vols, 12-1, with 17 points. Andrew Pylate hit four 3-pointers in tallying 12 points. Cameron Beaty scored 11 and Casey Woods tossed in seven.
Newton 56
Indianola 54
Wil Bean's jumper from the left baseline with one second left in overtime carried the Generals to the elimination game victory.
NCA trailed 28-18 at halftime and 43-32 heading into the fourth quarter. The Generals outscored Indianola 18-7 in the fourth quarter behind 10 points from Jonathan Moore to force overtime at 50-50.
Moore led the Generals, 5-8, with 19 points. David White scored 16 and Bean had 14.
Indianola, 5-13, got 13 points from Brian Wyms, 12 from Parker Reynolds, and 11 from Hugh Fisher.
Winston 58
Kemper 27
Caleb Metts scored 15 points to lead the Patriots past the Rams in the elimination contest.
Winston led 13-4 at the end of the first quarter and took a 33-7 lead into halftime after outscoring Kemper 20-3 in the second period.
Winston, 10-2, also got 10 points from Blake Fulton, nine from Jonathan Stevens, and eight from Taylor Paschal.
Kemper, 3-9, got eight points from Adam Davis.
Marty Stamper is a sports writer for The Meridian Star. E-mail him at mstamper@themeridianstar.com or call him at 693-1551, ext. 3235.