Panthers dethrone Chilton County

Published 10:50 pm Friday, January 15, 2010

Jemison’s basketball B-team on Friday ended Chilton County’s seven-year county basketball tournament championship run.

The Panthers won, 38-35, by breaking CCHS’s press more efficiently and creating more turnovers with its own press.

CCHS, playing on its home court though Thorsby is the tournament host, took possession of the basketball with 8.2 seconds remaining, but a 3-pointer as time expired rimmed out.

“We knew we had a chance,” said first-year Jemison coach Jamey Walls, whose team had fallen to the Tigers in the final minute of a game earlier in the season. “We wanted to keep the intensity up, and I think we did after the first quarter.”

CCHS held a 16-14 halftime lead, but Jemison outscored the Tigers 12-7 in the third period.

Helping with that run was Kevin King, who singlehandedly turned a tie game to Jemison’s favor. A part of Jemison’s press, King stole the ball and showed his speed as he glided down the court and layed it in. King then stole the inbounds pass, missed a fadeaway, grabbed his own rebound and finally the finished the play to give Jemison a 26-22 lead with just less than 1 minute remaining in the third.

King created havoc all night with his aggressive defense and finished with nine points.

Ben Howard had eight points for Jemison.

CCHS’s Jarvis Rogers scored a game-high 18 points, and teammate Dyquan Floyd had eight points.