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By Fred Guarino

The Lowndes Signal

Goshen completed a sweep of Lowndes County boys varsity basketball teams in the 2A Area 6 Basketball Tournament having taken both Central and Calhoun to overtime and defeating Calhoun 74-67 for the area championship in Letohatchee, Friday night.

With the win Goshen will host a playoff game while Calhoun will have to hit the road as area runner-up.

The Central boys fell to Goshen at Calhoun in the area tournament Wednesday, Feb. 7 in overtime 75-70 while Calhoun overcame a flat start to eliminate Luverne 59-35.

Calhoun boys head basketball coach Ervin Starr said Friday’s game for the area championship would be the rubber game between Calhoun and Goshen as they split victories in the regular season.

In Friday’s night’s championship contest, the Calhoun Tigers edged the Goshen Eagles by a single point at the end of the first period 13-12. And Goshen held a seven-point lead at the half 37-30.

But the Tigers clawed out a one-point lead in the third period 49-48 only to see both teams tied at 59-all going into overtime.

Overtime did not go the way of the Tigers, however, and the Eagles managed the 74-67 win led by Michael Hollis with 30 points. Hollis also led the Eagles with 33 points in the overtime win over Central on Feb. 7.

Calhoun was led in the championship game by Ketavious Kingka with 14 points.

Starr said his team just wasn’t in rhythm in the championship contest. He said his team broke down in its full-court press in the first half and had to come back to half-court. But he said his team came back in the second until foul trouble hit his Tigers, and he had to rotate some players out.

Starr took the blame for the area championship loss on himself. “The loss is on me. I made some bad coaching decisions tonight. If I could take them back I would, but at the time, I thought they were right,” he said.

He explained that he felt he could have had some kids on the floor who were not on the floor.

While Starr said some people are going to be upset about the game, he said, “This is my team. I have to coach my team my way.”

The Tigers are 16-7 overall and were 5-1 to win the regular season in area play.

In the Central/Goshen game played on Feb. 7 at Calhoun, which ended Central’s boys basketball season, Goshen’s Hollis accounted for 33 points while the Lions were led by Kentravious Dudley with 16 points.

In the Calhoun/Luverne game, which eliminated Luverne from the boys area tournament, Jerdarrian Davison led the home Tigers with 18 points while Messiah (Billy) Burnett scored 11 for Luverne.

Central head basketball coach Brian Coleman said the Lions’ game with Goshen was great for the crowd. “But for me it wasn’t so great. It shouldn’t have been overtime because when you’re up by 15 at half…,” he said.

Coleman explained that his Lions got into foul trouble, and he could have his team play man-to-man. In fact, he said, three of his players fouled out of the game.

Coleman said Central couldn’t compete at that point because Goshen had quick guards.

He went on to say, “This has been one of my most trying seasons since I started coaching. But overall, we did get some good things accomplished. Coleman said, “I wish we were still playing. It’s been a while since I hadn’t (had a team that) played in the playoffs.”

Starr said his team came out “flat” in its game with Luverne on Feb. 7 tied at 11 -11 in the first quarter and trailing 19-20 at the half.  But he said that must have had something to do with Luverne.

Starr said, “Luckily we went in at the half and made some adjustments, kind of switched what we were doing on defense in the full court and were able to get turnovers.” He said once the defense stepped up, so did the offense.

Starr said Spencer Johnson who moved up from junior varsity “lit the fire” for Calhoun on defense.

Luverne head basketball coach Richard Dorsey said his team had a good season, playing with a lot of inexperienced players… ninth and 10th graders who had never played. He said, “They just don’t know how to win right now… hopefully in the off season we can work on a lot of that.”

He said the Feb. 7 game with Calhoun was well fought, “Their (Calhoun’s) experience and probably team leadership helped them and put them over the top.”

Dorsey said, however, he thought Satyler Wilson, a sophomore, played pretty well for him. He said, “That’s where it starts with the ball being in his hands a lot. We’ll get there eventually. We’ve been there before, we’ll get back.”

 

 

By Fred Guarino

The Lowndes Signal

Goshen completed a sweep of Lowndes County boys varsity basketball teams in the 2A Area 6 Basketball Tournament having taken both Central and Calhoun to overtime and defeating Calhoun 74-67 for the area championship in Letohatchee, Friday night.

With the win Goshen will host a playoff game while Calhoun will have to hit the road as area runner-up.

The Central boys fell to Goshen at Calhoun in the area tournament Wednesday, Feb. 7 in overtime 75-70 while Calhoun overcame a flat start to eliminate Luverne 59-35.

Calhoun boys head basketball coach Ervin Starr said Friday’s game for the area championship would be the rubber game between Calhoun and Goshen as they split victories in the regular season.

The Calhoun Tigers edged the Goshen Eagles by a single point at the end of the first period 13-12. And Goshen held a seven-point lead at the half 37-30.

But the Tigers clawed out a one-point lead in the third period 49-48 only to see both teams tied at 59-all going into overtime.

Overtime did not go the way of the Tigers, however, and the Eagles managed the 74-67 win led by Michael Hollis with 30 points. Hollis also led the Eagles with 33 points in the overtime win over Central.

Calhoun was led in the championship game by Ketavious Kingka with 14 points.

Starr said his team just wasn’t in rhythm. He said his team broke down in its full court press in the first half and had to come back to half court. But he said his team came back in the second until foul trouble hit his Tigers and he had to rotate some players out.

But Starr took the blame for the loss on himself. “The loss is on me. I made some bad coaching decisions tonight. If I could take them back I would, but at the time, I thought they were right,” he said.

He explained that he felt he could have had some kids on the floor who were not on the floor.

While Starr said some people are going to be upset about the game, he said, “This is my team. I have to coach my team my way.

The Tigers are 16-7 overall and were 5-1 to win the regular season in area play.

In the Central/Goshen game played on Feb. 7 at Calhoun, which ended Central’s boys basketball season, Goshen’s Hollis accounted for 33 points while the Lions were led by Kentravious Dudley with 16 points.

In the Calhoun/Luverne game, which eliminated Luverne from the boys area tournament, Jerdarrian Davison led the home Tigers with 18 points while Messiah (Billy) Burnett scored 11 for Luverne.

Central head basketball coach Brian Coleman said the game with Goshen was great for the crowd. “But for me it wasn’t so great. It shouldn’t have been overtime because when you’re up by 15 at half…,” he said.

Coleman explained that his Lions got into foul trouble, and he could have his team play man-to-man. In fact, he said, three of his players fouled out of the game.

Coleman said Central couldn’t compete at that point because Goshen had quick guards.

He went on to say, “This has been one of my most trying seasons since I started coaching. But overall, we did get some good things accomplished. Coleman said, “I wish we were still playing. It’s been a while since I hadn’t (had a team that) played in the playoffs.”

Starr said his team came out “flat” in its game with Luverne on Feb. 7 tied at 11 -11 in the first quarter and trailing 19-20 at the half.  But he said that must have had something to do with Luverne.

Starr said, “Luckily we went in at the half and made some adjustments, kind of switched what we were doing on defense in the full court and were able to get turnovers.” He said once the defense stepped up, so did the offense.

Starr said Spencer Johnson who moved up from junior varsity “lit the fire” for Calhoun on defense.

Luverne head basketball coach Richard Dorsey said his team had a good season, playing with a lot of inexperienced players… ninth and 10th graders who had never played. He said, “They just don’t know how to win right now… hopefully in the off season we can work on a lot of that.”

He said the Feb. 7 game with Calhoun was well fought, “Their (Calhoun’s) experience and probably team leadership helped them and put them over the top.”

Dorsey said, however, he thought Satyler Wilson, a sophomore, played pretty well for him. He said, “That’s where it starts with the ball being in his hands a lot. We’ll get there eventually. We’ve been there before, we’ll get back.”