By By Austin Bishop/Special to The Star
Feb. 4, 2001
The inability to crack Manchester Academy's 1-1-3 zone cost homestanding Lamar School dearly in the boys finals of the MPSA Division 3-AAA Tournament on Saturday night.
Manchester led 19-18 with six minutes left to play in the half, but once it switched to the zone, the Mavericks outscored 14-4 for the rest of the second quarter and hit the first six points of the third quarter to take a 39-22 lead on the way to a 68-48 win.
The Raiders made 15 of their 25 turnovers in the game in the first half, with several of those coming on cross-court passes.
The Copiah Academy girls held off a late charge from Central Hinds to win the championship by the score of 49-39, while the Lamar girls took third place with a 41-38 win over Manchester. The Copiah boys finished third with a 41-25 victory over Central Hinds.
All four boys and girls teams advance to next week's South State AAA Tournament at Copiah Academy in Gallman. Lamar will play either on Tuesday or Wednesday in the eight-team tournament. The top four teams in South State advance to State at Central Hinds Academy in Raymond the following week.
Despite falling behind by 17 points in the third quarter, the Lamar boys made a run at pulling off their second come-from-behind win in two nights.
The Raiders, now 9-20 on the season, cut it to 43-35 after three quarters of play thanks to a three-pointer by Dusty Jones at the buzzer.
Brett Cerda scored 14 of his 25 points in the fourth quarter to lead Manchester.
Jared McKee and Jones were named All-Division for the Lamar boys, while Libby Huff was named All-Division for the Lamar girls.
McKee led Lamar with 21 points and 10 rebounds, while Jones had 18 points 10 rebounds.
Copiah Girls 49, Central Hinds 39: The Lady Cougars of Central Hinds cut Copiah's 27-16 halftime lead to 40-37 with 3:24 to go in the game, but could get no closer.
Ashley Garner led Copiah with 25 points, while Candace Clayton scored 14. Alisa Deviney led CHS with 21 points.
Lamar Girls 41, Manchester 38: Lamar used 17 points from Myleia Shirley, including five three-pointers, to push the Lady Raiders to their sixth win of the season.
Libby Huff, Brittany Payne and April Rogers scored seven points each for Lamar, while Dianna Adams had 15 for Manchester and Emily Edgar scored 12.
Copiah Boys 41, Central Hinds 25: Tyler Beach scored all 10 of his points in the fourth quarter to lead Copiah to the win over CHA.
Casey Tebo had 11 for the Colonels, while Colby Powell led Central Hinds with 14.