By By Marty Stamper / EMG sports assistant
April 11, 2004
CHOCTAW The South took both wins in the MACJC All-Star Basketball Games Saturday afternoon at Choctaw Central High School, but an argument could be made that the University of South Alabama was the day's biggest winner.
East Central's Kimyatta Viverette and Gulf Coast's JoAnna Williams both scored 14 points to earn co-MVP honors for the South team as it rolled to an 88-70 victory in the women's contest. Both are expected to sign with USA next week.
The South also got 14 points from Monique Dale of Pearl River, 11 from Sharon Pendarvis of Jones, and nine from Lenore Gray of East Central. Meridian's Stephanie Mosley scored four points and ECCC's Rita Birden had three.
The North got 20 points from Marquetia Thomas of Northeast, 14 from Lawanda Stewart of Delta, 10 from Amber Hughes of Northeast, nine from Latrice Rone of Holmes, and seven from Mary Timms of Holmes.
The South scored 16 of the game's first 20 points and took a 42-30 lead into halftime.
The South upped its lead to 52-32 in the first three minutes of the second half.
Back-to-back baskets by Viverette and Birden gave the South its biggest lead of the game at 77-48 with 6:40 remaining.
South (men) 97
North 94
The South rallied from a 57-44 halftime deficit to take the men's contest.
The game was a 3-point fiesta as the teams combined to make 21 treys.
The South took the lead for good at 81-79 with a trey with just under six minutes remaining and built a 91-81 lead on a basket by Adrian Harper of Hinds with 3:05 to go.
The North battled back to within 96-93 on a 3-pointer from Northwest's Marcus Harris with 17.9 seconds remaining.
The South turned the ball over twice in the final 11 seconds, but the North missed the front end of a one-and-one with 7.7 seconds left and made only one free shot with 4.1 seconds remaining to close to within 96-94.
John Gray of Jones knocked down one free shot with 1.3 seconds left to give the South its final three-point margin.
The South's Ray Salvage of Pearl River scored 16 points to earn MVP honors. Jeremy Richardson of Copiah-Lincoln had 15 points, Donald Jones of Hinds had 11, Tommy Biggoms of Gulf Coast and Carlos Cole of Pearl River both had nine. Harper, Willie Powers of Meridian, and Nic Gamble of Southwest both scored eight with Jesse Taylor of Hinds tossing in seven. ECCC's Jamaal Martin had three, while Jones' Marvin McDonald scored two and John Gray had one.
The North was led by Harris, who hit five treys in racking up 19 points. Chris Logan of Northeast scored 14, Itawamba's Brian Rucker and Jerrell Vinson both scored 10, Delta's Kedrick Johnson had eight, and Coahoma's Cedric Thomas, Holmes' Amarette Plunkett, and Northwest's Rory Green each had seven. Joseph Collins of East Mississippi scored five points.