Bears suffer Irish sweep at Houston

Jacori Payne of Dublin High kept the scorekeepers busy and looking for extra space by his name Friday. At the Houston County High Bear Den, Payne’s 49 points paced the Irish to an 86-74 win against Houston County.

Payne wasn’t just shooting away from the point guard position. He also dished out a fair number of assists to his teammates. It was a whistle-filled occasion with players from both ends fouling out as early as the third quarter.

Stephen Walls and the Bears, during a deliberately paced first quarter, led the game by as many as eight points. The Irish didn’t take the lead until it ripped some 3-pointers late in the first half. Houston County was down by one at the half and never surged ahead during the second half.

Jaylen Searcy made four 3-point shots in the final quarter and finished with 15 points. Kevin Ellis was tops for the Bears with 17 points. Monte Harris netted 13 points and Amari Colbert nine. Walls, however, could look at a hard night at the foul line with numerous missed opportunities, especially to convert the old-fashioned three-point play.

Ellis scored five of Houston’s first six points. With such a slow pace, the Bears were only up by one, 7-6, with the clock under the three-minute mark. Houston was also in the one-and-one bonus at 2:53. A.J. Burton put in an offensive rebound for 9-6 at 2:17.

These final two minutes were a bit more to the full house’s liking in terms of action, even though Dublin was responsible for most of the highlights. The Irish scored its three-point play from a press turnover and blocked a Houston shot in transition.

Houston County responded with six in a row, first by beating the press with passes and a basket from Harris. He also had a 3-point shot to make it a 17-9 lead.

Dublin took multiple turns at the foul line to get its own 6-0 spurt, but the visitors still trailed by three, 18-15, when the quarter finally ended.

Walls’ club had some success beating the Dublin pressure with points coming from Colbert and Burton. But for the most part, the second quarter was about players going to the free-throw line and Houston County leading by as much as seven (26-19).

On a mid-court takeaway, Dublin was down by three, 26-23. Ellis followed in a miss, plus excelled on defense blocking a shot and making a steal. His field goal, though, would be the last Bear points for a bit of time, and the Irish went ahead 30-29 with 1:28 until halftime.

The overall run for the Irish – which included three 3-pointers to negate two illegal screen calls – was 13-1. There were 37 seconds left when the visitors were up by six, but Searcy was fouled attempting a trey inside the last tick. He made all the free throws, so at the break the deficit was just one, 36-35.

Even with an effective press, a give-and-go basket from Mykel Harris and an Ellis put-back, the Bears fell down by five as Dublin followed the Ellis 2 with an immediate push and stick-back (44-39). Colbert took a long feed down court, and though he scored it was one of those missed three-point play conversions.

Ellis added one more 2 on the offensive boards, and at 3:11 in the third quarter the Bears had possession looking for the lead. It would be a turnover, though, and when the Irish took over it made the three-point play (49-45). A make from outside the arc at 2:03 increased the margin to nine, 54-45.

The first player to foul out for Dublin did so at 4:37 of the third. But Payne, just like Searcy, was fouled in the act of shooting a 3 when the buzzer sounded. He stuck in all three at the line for 62-51 with one more quarter left.

The Irish stretched a 9-0 run into the fourth with two takeaway scores. The first 3’s out of Searcy’s hands, to go with a steal basket by Monte Harris, brought the margin down to seven, 72-65. Harris had a second steal, but the Bears missed from the foul line, and Ellis was fed inside for 2, but again they didn’t get the full three-point play and trailed 74-68.

Searcy’s final trey made it 78-71. For the third time in the half, the Bears only got two of a potential three-point play afterwards when it was 80-73.

• On Saturday, Houston County’s boys fell to Westside High in Macon 63-41.

Thirty turnovers and an ankle injury to Taylor Hicks didn’t help the efforts of the Houston County High girls basketball team Friday at home. Dublin High’s Lady Irish defeated the Lady Bears 59-47 Friday in a game where Autumn Ring paced the home club with 20 points.

Kiera Nicely scored 10 points and stole the basketball four times. It was a tough night on the offensive end for senior center Justice Wright, but she did pull down 17 rebounds.

It was Ring who notched the game’s first points putting back an offensive rebound. Dublin would go on a 9-0 run, two coming off one of the period’s eight turnovers. The Lady Bears were down by eight when, at the 30-second mark, Wright threw an assist to Hicks against the press. With that, it was 13-7 in favor of Dublin going into the second.

The Lady Irish frontcourt was formidable in terms of its own size. For a string of six straight in the second quarter, Naya Archie scored on the offensive glass and Jasmine Hollis backed in down low for 2.

Three of Nicely’s steals were in the second, and she converted a three-point play to get it down to seven, 19-12. Dublin scored 3 banking the ball off the backboard, and a 2 from one of 10 turnovers put the visitors up by 10 for the half, 25-15.

Dublin’s girls were not shooting great offensively, but did all it needed on defense, including opening the second half with a takeaway under the basket for 2. Hollis stepped outside the arc and connected for 30-17.

Wright was 0-for-3 from the floor when she stuck in a jumper at 4:21 (30-21). Hicks would leave the game in this quarter, but not before taking an assist from Ring. Dublin answered with a 3, which began an 8-1 run. Ring ended it with a follow-up basket, and Brittany Murray assisted Madi Slappey’s 2 against the press.

Two times, Dublin rebounded missed foul shots to get four points, and with that it was 41-28 after three complete. The fourth began with two takeaway hoops for Dublin. Slappey and Nicely scored on second shots towards the end.

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