Web posted
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
South Haven boys pull away from Oxford
By MIKE JOSEPH
Traveler Correspondent
SOUTH HAVEN -- Solid defense in the second half and balanced scoring led the way as the South Haven Cardinals beat the Oxford Wildcats 77-60 Tuesday night.
The Cardinals led by as many as eight points in the first half, only to have the Wildcats roar back to lead at the end of both quarters, taking a slim 35-34 lead into the locker room.
Trailing 34-30 with less than 30 seconds remaining in the half, Forrest Huckabey drained a three-pointer. South Haven, looking for the last shot, turned the ball over as Huckabey stole a pass and threw the ball ahead to a streaking Bryce Mayes, who scored the layup as time expired.
"I thought we played pretty good defense in the first half," South Haven coach Darren McDorman said. "We had a couple lapses and they took advantage."
The Cardinals held the Wildcats scoreless for the first three minutes of the third period while building a 41-35 lead. Foul problems mounted for the Wildcats as starters Leo Reed, Nick Hampton and Bryce Carter all picked up their fourth fouls in the period. The Cardinals took advantage, hitting 6 of 7 free throws in the period.
"We came out with a lot more intensity on defense in the second half," said McDorman. "We switched over to our man-to-man defense. I thought we did a great job rebounding the ball tonight, especially Jordan Creed, Jake (Davidson) and Reese (Blaylock)."
"Jordan really stood out. He missed a few tough shots but he stayed with it," said McDorman.
Trailing 46-39 with under a minute left in the third quarter, Mayes scored back-to-back buckets pulling Oxford within three. Jake Parcher was fouled with less than five seconds left and swished both free-throw attempts giving South Haven a 48-43 lead heading into the final period.
After Hampton fouled out ten-seconds into the final period, the Cardinals extended their lead to 55-45 with 6:29 left. Mayes and Reed tried to keep Oxford close, hitting from beyond the arc pulling the Wildcats within six, 61-55 with 3:24 left.
Leading 62-55, South Haven looked to spread the floor and run the clock. The Cardinals shaved a minute off before Kalen Fitch was fouled with 1:31 left. After hitting his first free-throw, Fitch missed the second and Jake Davidson pulled down the offensive rebound and scored pushing the lead back to 10.
South Haven controlled the boards and hit its free throws down the stretch and led 72-57 with 20.2 seconds left.
Oxford coach Kyle Green picked up a technical foul late after arguing with the referees. Huckabey was assessed an additional technical after fouling out of the game, sending the Cardinals to the line for six free-throws. Patrick Curl hit one-of two and Parcher drained four in a row to close out the scoring for South Haven.
The Cardinals had balanced scoring with five players in double figures led by Davidson's 16. Parcher had 14 while Fitch and Creed scored 13 points apiece.
Blaylock scored 11 off the bench. Creed led with nine rebounds for South Haven. Mayes led all scorers with 24, while Brad Potucek had a double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds.
South Haven improved to 10-3 overall and 5-1 in SCBL play. Oxford fell to 9-6 and 6-1.
OXFORD 16 19 8 17 -- 60
SOUTH HAVEN 14 20 14 29 -- 77
Oxford -- Mayes 24, Potucek 15, Carter 6, Reed 6, Huckabey 5, Hampton 4
South Haven -- Davidson 16, Parcher 14, Fitch 13, Creed 13, Blaylock 11, Spencer 5, Curl 3, Yunker 2. Yunker 2unker 2 2ker 2nker 2unker 2ker 22unker 22ker 2nker 2nker 2nker 22 23, Yunker 2nker 2ker 2
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