Chick-fil-A Bear Brawl Wrap-up

mbrown@sunmulti.com

For his overall contributions since beating the halftime

buzzer of the semifinal game held Dec. 21, Jarius Smith was named the Most

Valuable Player of the victorious Northside High basketball team at the 2012

Chick-fil-A Bear Brawl.

Head coach Ken Price, in reality, could have presented an

MVP for each quarter (and even overtime play) to different Eagle players in his

team’s three straight wins at the Houston County High Bear Den. The capper came

Dec. 22 when Northside survived a back-and-forth battle with rival Warner

Robins High 76-69.

The Eagles became the first county boys team to win the Bear

Brawl since Perry defeated Houston County in December, 2006.

Smith’s personal journey to take MVP honors began when

Northside played Choctaw High School of Ft. Walton Beach, Fla., on Friday.

Scoreless for the entire first half, Smith did a stop-and-pop 3-pointer at the

halftime horn. With that, the Eagles led 23-22 and never trailed in the second

half, winning 66-48.

In that second half, Smith would sink five more 3-pointers

in scoring a team-leading 20 points.

More on that game later.

On Dec. 22, Smith was one of four Eagles reaching double

figures in the win against the Warner Robins Demons. Both he and forward Robert

Davis tallied 17 points. Point guard Rodney Levine netted the team-high with

18.

If Price wanted to name an MVP for just the fourth period,

that would be back-up point guard Darrin Clark. He had all 13 of his points in

those eight minutes.

Warner Robins High’s Sam Harris made a major impact in the

first half with 10 of his 14 points. As he cooled off from the floor, senior

guard Juvaun Shine erupted in a significant way. Shine wound up leading all

scorers with 25 points.

The Demons and coach Jamaal Garman kept host Houston County

High out of the finals by knocking off the Bears Friday 56-51. Northside

already had its victory in the books, and thus everyone expected the spectators

to file into the Den Saturday to see these rivals play the first of what will

be three guaranteed contests (not including a potential region tournament

pairing in February) in the 2012-13 season.

What the full stands got was a clean, competitive game that

wasn’t decided until the Eagles went on a 13-2 run midway through the final

period.

Before that, the biggest scoring surge from either side

belonged to Warner Robins. That was a 7-0 game-opening spurt with a basket by

Harris and his steal plus assist to Shine for a 3-pointer. Harris put in two

more field goals off inbound passes and stuck-back an offensive board.

Smith, though, didn’t wait until the end of the half to find

his stroke from the outside. With three 3-pointers, Northside was within one

2-pointer at 13-11.

Though Shine had a pair of steals and Donovan Brown came off

Garman’s bench for a put-back, the Eagles used the free-throw line to tie the

game 15-15 with 55 seconds on the quarter clock. As time was winding down, the

Demons missed two long-range shots, but freshman Marquez Callaway grabbed a

rebound and beat the buzzer for the go-ahead score.

To start the second period, Northside crashed the offensive

glass and Levine tied the game on a third-chance make. Carlos Scott, on his way

to a 15-point game for Warner Robins, sank a corner trey for 20-18 Demons.

But as Warner Robins overall struggled in the perimeter

game, the Eagles for the second time used foul shooting to forge ahead 24-22.

At 3:55, Northside completed an 10-0 run on Levine’s penetration basket. Smith

intercepted a pass, drew a foul and completed a different kind of thee-point

play for 31-24.

Shine ended the Demon outside drought on a corner 3 at the

2:08 mark. But with two power moves in the paint by Davis and a Levine jumper,

Northside went into the half up 37-32.

Warner Robins quickly found itself trailing by nine early in

the third period. Shine stuck in five points with an assist from Harris, but

the Eagles countered with Kyle Johnson and Levine jumpers (45-37). Shine

registered five more in a 6-0 Demon run, his 3-pointer at 2:56 bringing a timeout

from the Northside bench.

Nathan Curtis blocked Davis’ try at a stick-back, and when

the Eagles tried the full-court press, it didn’t slow down Shine’s hot hand as

he tied the game 45-45. Curtis extended the scoring run to 10, and Warner

Robins led for the first time in the second half.

After Northside registered four foul shots in a row, Harris

went to the offensive boards tying the game 49-49 going into the fourth.

Even with the free throws, the Eagles went more than three

minutes without points from the floor. The fourth saw completely different

results, starting with Levine’s tear-drop jumper on the first possession. He

and Smith hit one-handers in the lane, but Warner Robins got three at a time

from both Shine and Scott.

One more 3-ball by Shine had his club up four 59-55. Clark

entered the lineup and immediately added numbers to the scoring column. With

five minutes left, Smith went baseline for a tying jumper (59-59). As the

Eagles went ahead for the last time, both Clark and Levine penetrated from near

half-court for baskets.

The margin went all the way to eight, 71-63, before Shine’s

trey at 1:42. Levine disrupted his next attempt and Clark scored to seal the

win.

 

NORTHSIDE-CHOCTAW

 

Against the Choctaw Indians, Kyle Johnson scored 14 points

and Davis 12 to go with the unconscious shooting effort by Smith in the second

half.

Johnson paced the offense for Northside through the overtime

minutes needed for the Eagles to beat Josey High of Augusta in the first round

Dec. 20. He had eight points with two 3-pointers and a half-court steal in the

first quarter of the semifinals.

Price did not stay with his usual 5-for-5 substitution

pattern for long during this quarter as Choctaw went from trailing by five to

leading 10-8. The Indians then recovered a turnover and saw one of its guards

put a move on 6-10 Christian Kennedy in the post to tie the game 12-12.

Johnson stroked a tie-breaking 3 and missed a second at the

end of the opening period. It was the start of an overall 6-0 run by the

Eagles, and the basketball ended up in Johnson’s hands from a missed free

throw. His put-back made it 18-12.

Choctaw reeled off the next eight in a row with nice

transition moves and patient half-court sets. Now seeing his team trailing

20-18, Clark grabbed a missed shot and drove end-to-end for a tying field goal.

The Indians tried all half to adjust to Kennedy’s presence,

at some points changing their minds about taking certain shots inside. Kennedy

collected a number of rebounds during this quarter and other Eagles stepped up

their defensive play.

Offensively, Northside had numerous chances come up empty

until the stop-and-pop from Smith that changed a two-point deficit into the

23-22 halftime advantage.

As the second half began, Davis and Levine stretched that

run out to seven in row. But just as quick, Choctaw strung together tying

points for 27-27. The next seven belonged to Northside with Smith’s corner trey

and Levine’s press takeaway.

Justin Burnam showed that the Eagles had more than one

3-point shooter, but the remainder of the third belonged to Davis. He alone

scored six in a row with two put-backs and a slam. That ended the quarter at

43-31 Northside.

Even with hands in his face, Smith sank five 3-pointers in

the final period. Choctaw pulled no closer than 11 points.

DEMONS-BEARS

 

The Houston County boys program has had its chances to

finally keep the Bear Brawl boys championship inside the Den over the last

eight years, but fell in the finals to Campbell, Perry and Peach County.

Warner Robins’ Demons, already with one win against the

Bears in a sub-region game this season, made it two in a row on Dec. 21. Harris

scored 13 points, Shine 12 and Callaway 11.

Parris Jester, Houston’s hero of the first round with his

game-winning free throws against Peach County, had 11 points as did point guard

Andrew Graham. Guard Jamarkus Williams added 10 points.

The only time Warner Robins led in the entire first half was

off Shine’s opening 3-point make. Graham scored five of Houston’s first 11, and

four belonged to Taran Wooten with an assist going to Graham.

Callaway had a spurt of four points for Warner Robins. He

cashed in Shine’s steal and assist to tie the game 11-11 five minutes into the

contest. That would be all, though, for the Demons, and two more Graham assists

to Wooten and Jester had the game 17-11 Bears at the period’s end.

Williams sank a 3 to open the second and extend the run to

nine in a row. At 5:02, Scott’s 3-pointer got the Demons back in contention,

and Brown added four points off the bench. A.J. Burton became a defensive force

inside as a Bear back-up forward, and added a basket to go with Wooten’s long

transition pass to Jester. Houston was up 24-18 even with another slow start

from top scorer Davon Akins.

The Bears were up two, 25-23, at the half as the Demons

missed scoring chances in the final minute with a charging foul. Houston coach

Stephen Walls did not use his bench the way he was compelled to in the Peach

game, and Warner Robins had much more production from its substitutes.

With two straight baskets from Callaway two minutes into the

third quarter, the Demons found themselves in front 30-27. Williams countered

with four in a row, but Shine, a bit off in his shooting range, got a 3-ball to

go in for 33-31 WR. Shine cooled back down the rest of the period, but Harris

made up for it with two strong baskets underneath.

It would be the Bear offense going stagnant with the

exception of a Graham penetration score. With 14 seconds on the clock, Brown

put back on offensive rebound, and the fourth quarter began with the Demons

leading 39-36.

Burton’s put-back at 5:25 tied the game 39-39. The Bears

only enjoyed a slim two-point edge in the fourth, and both teams were looking

for results. Things didn’t get interesting until the 1:30 mark when Shine’s 3

hit nothing but net. With that, Warner Robins led for good 44-42.

The Demons’ biggest lead was six points, 51-45, as Brown

beat the Bear press. It became a foul-shooting contest from there, and in the

last 23 seconds both Harris and Callaway had 2-for-2 trips to the stripe.

 

LADY BEARS

It would be the girls of Choctaw High winning the Bear Brawl

championship from the Lady Pirates of Brunswick High. Brunswick denied the

Houston County High Lady Bears of a repeat chance on Dec. 21 in a dominating

87-56 win.

Brunswick forced more than 30 turnovers from Houston County

and had a 32-point performance from guard Destiny Alston.

 

Larissa Engram netted

28 for the Lady Bears, who fought back from an early 16-0 hole to trail by four

early in the third quarter.

The number of forced takeaways by the Lady Pirates reached

14 in the opening period. Houston didn’t break the scoreboard until 2:27 as

Engram went backdoor to take an inbound pass. Brunswick took center Justice

Wright totally out of the action as she didn’t get a field-goal attempt until

2:55.

Brittany Greene received a high screen from Brittany Gordon

for a high-low assist to Unique Tuberville. That was Houston’s last offensive

highlight of the first, and the defense could only get a couple of steals

itself. Up by as many as 17, Brunswick ended the period at 24-9.

The giveaway number was only six in the second, and

Tuberville sank a 3 to bring her team within 12, 26-14. She and Gordon also got

stronger on the boards, and with improved passing Desiree Gray added a trey and

Engram earned a three-point play. In all, Houston had a 10-0 run to trail

29-24.

Greene put in five points and Engram ended the half scoring

off Tuberville’s steal. A lot of Brunswick’s takeaways were late, and with six

points the Lady Pirates stayed up by five, 41-36, at the half.

Houston could only get five shots to fall from the floor for

the entire second half. One came from Wright in the first two minutes when the

Lady Bears worked the margin down to four, 44-40.  The center also blocked two shots.

At 50-43, Brunswick closed the period with seven in a row

with unforced turnovers to go with the seven it would force. It was 57-43 when

the fourth began, and Brunswick had one string of 11 points in a row.

HHJ News