By Damian Mitchell | Special to the Advertiser

 

The Maplesville Red Devils’ fourth quarter comeback was not enough to beat the Dallas County Hornets, as they fell short 81-76 on Jan. 23.

The crowd was electric on both sides throughout the game and both teams seemed to find their energy from the fans.

“The crowd really fuels me,” said Maplesville’s Jackson Abbott.

Dallas County jumped out to a 27-14 lead on Maplesville in the first quarter and looked like they were going to gain the momentum and make the game a runaway.

Maplesville had other thoughts in mind.

The Red Devils scored 19 points in the second quarter with nine coming from Jackson Abbott.

Their defense gave up 19 points as well, making the score 46-33 heading into halftime.

The third quarter went in favor of the Hornets as they pushed their lead up to 15 making the score 62-47 going into the fourth quarter.

Maplesville started crawling back in the final period with eight points coming from Abbott.

Maplesville shrank the deficit down to six points with 1:03 left in the fourth.

That is when Abbott took one of the biggest shots in the game.

“I saw Chaz [Morris] in the corner, so I faked it to get the defender to move then I shot it.” Abbott said. “As a shooter you know when they’re going in and I felt that one was going in.”

He sank the three-pointer making the score 74-71 in favor of Dallas County.

The Red Devils needed to foul in order to send the Hornets to the free throw line in hopes that they would miss and give them a chance.

However, those chances did not go the Red Devils way.

“My guys never gave up and I couldn’t be more proud of them for that,” Maplesville coach Stacy McGehee said.

Abbott led the Red Devils in scoring with 20 points, while Nathaniel Watson also gave a good scoring output with 17.