A track meet. A foul shooting contest. And there was some
basketball mixed into all of the fun had at the Perry High School gym Tuesday.
Beating the Rutland High Hurricanes of Macon means beating the
green-clad players at these two aforementioned things, and that’s what Brett
Hardy’s Panthers did to the tune of a 84-70 victory.
With the win, Perry improved to 9-4 in Region 2-AAAA, which
was also the record left the Panther gym holding. Hardy said the teams that
finish in the top two of the region will qualify for the state tournament and
not have to play in the region tournament until the semifinals on Feb. 14.
Rutland is the region tournament host.
If Perry ends up in third place, it will play a game on Feb.
12 against a play-in winner from Feb. 11. The winner of that game earns a spot
in the GHSA championship field.
K.J. Smith, Panther sophomore guard, had 30 points Tuesday.
Thirty is also the number of free throws Perry High attempted in the fourth
quarter alone. Smith was 13-for-15 overall in foul shooting, 10-of-12 in the
fourth.
Marquez Thomas had 16 points and Jalen Walker scored 14.
Both are seniors, as is Michael Thomas, who contributed eight points in
reserve.
Rutland also spent some significant time at the free-throw
line in the fourth period with 16 attempts (11 made). The Hurricanes had four
score in double figures: Dallas Smith (20), Shakenneth Williams (15), Tylik
Evans (12) and Jalen Kirkland (11).
With all of that foul shooting, Perry’s smallest lead in
those eight minutes was 10 points, and that was late in regulation. The
Panthers were ahead 65-51 when the fourth began, and everything was about
putting players on the free-throw line until the score read 76-57 for the home
team. It was halfway through, with four minutes exactly to play, that somebody
(a Rutland player) scored from the field.
Walker had Perry’s first basket of the fourth on an
offensive rebound fifteen seconds later. Another series of free throws
followed, and with 3:10 remaining Rutland went on a 7-1 run. The Hurricanes
converted a three-point play from the offensive boards at 2:37 and returned to
the line from a turnover.
That made the Panther lead the smallest of the quarter,
80-70. The Panthers began to run time off the clock, made four more free throws
and received a block from Derrick Toliver.
Nobody had any intentions of slowing things down Tuesday,
certainly not the Hurricanes. They threw long outlets and rushed the basketball
with no set-ups the first three times they had possession. Evans connected on
his first 3-point attempt.
Walker had a major impact at the start, getting back a
stolen basketball, making an assist to Smith and blocking a transition lay-up.
Walker went the opposite way, challenging Williams (whose
shot he just blocked), and had a three-point play. Rutland had the lead all the
way until Kevin Ford and Marquez Thomas disrupted Williams, took the ball away,
and saw Smith follow in a shot on the break.
Marquez Thomas had his own three-point play on the run,
taking a pass from Larry Felder. Thomas also scored a floating shot on the
baseline after Deonte Soloman caused a turnover. Two times more did the
Panthers break up what the Hurricanes wanted to do, but they could not increase
a 12-9 lead.
Walker, though, had the final Perry field goal of the first
quarter, a 3-pointer that seemed to stay in the air forever. The second quarter
started at 17-13.
Two times at the new period’s onset, Marquez Thomas made
steals leading to fast-break chances. He was by his own bench when he took the
ball away and found an open Smith for 2. Perry was slowing the pace down only
to see Rutland try to increase it on a blocked shot.
The Hurricanes did not score until 6:20 on an offensive
rebound. Down by seven, 24-17, Evans had a steal, a put-back and caused a
turnover that resulted in the first half-court points by the visiting team.
Soloman answered with a 3-pointer, and Felder led two fast
breaks for assists to Marquez Thomas and Smith, who had a three-point play
against the press. The first double figure advantage, 34-23, was courtesy of
Michael Thomas and his stick-back.
At 1:46 until the half, Michael Thomas’ second field goal
came due to a penetration pass from senior forward Jamal Bagley. But as quick
as Rutland could score, two more transition field goals meant it was down by
only six, 38-32
The Canes had 13 seconds after Perry missed three straight
shots, but at the foul line made just one. At the half, it was a five-point
game 38-33.
Rutland extended a run to 10-1 with the first two baskets of
the third quarter. Smith scored the next seven by anybody, cashing in Walker’s
steal and assist and connecting from 3-point land. To bring the margin back to
10, 49-39, Smith had the steal plus assist to Marquez Thomas.
The final Hurricane run of the third, 8-2, included a steal
and score by Evans. Perry closed out the period out-doing Rutland 14-4. Felder
escaped a bad situation at half-court, the result being two second-chance
points. Toliver scored two times, the assists going to Smith.
Toliver also showed he could give up the ball as his
bullet-fired pass to Michael Thomas in the final minute had Perry in command
for the long final quarter.
GIRLS ACTION
Curshala Riley had seven points and Aaliyah Cheatham six in
the final home game of 2012-13 for the Perry High girls basketball team.
Rutland High rolled to the win 56-28.
Rutland did not score, though, until 2:40 of the first
quarter by making a 3-pointer over the 2-3 zone. Riley scored two times,
including one off a nice touch pass from Cheatham with less than a minute on
the clock. The Lady Hurricanes beat the buzzer to lead 9-5.
The closest Perry would be was after Cheatham’s
catch-and-shoot 3-pointer from the baseline. Rutland held the home team without
a basket to lead 20-10, then freshman Yoshi Shennett nailed a fifth-chance 3.
But Perry had no more success from the outside despite numerous attempts.
Rutland led at the half 24-13. In the third, at 2:21, the
visitors went ahead by 20. At the 29-second mark, Courtney Winston made the
first field goal off an inbound. Winston, Shennett and Deja Robinson all had
steals in the second half.
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