Stephenson’s Khalil Foster-Scott (24) drives against Southwest DeKalb’s Darius Hogan (0) and Jarrett Walton (20). (Photo by Mark Brock)
Joshua Archer’s shot with four seconds to play pushed the Southwest DeKalb Panthers to a 43-41 victory on their home court over DeKalb County rivals Stephenson Jaguars on Tuesday night.
The game was tied 41-41 when the Panthers defense forced a five second call on Stephenson to get the ball with 28. 8 seconds to play. A Panthers’ missed shot rebound was knocked around under the basket and was headed out of bounds when Jarrett Walton jumped in the air and flipped the ball to Archer as the clock ticked down.
Archer just got the shot off and up to the basket as a Stephenson defender tipped the ball, but it bounced into the basket for the game winner.
Stephenson got a shot off at the buzzer that bounced off the rim to prevent the game-tying points.
The Panthers (1-1) trailed by as much at eight points (29-21) with 2:42 left in the third quarter on a Khalil Foster-Scott three-point play.
Eugene Brown III began to heat for the Panthers hitting a three-pointer and then getting a steal and hitting one of two free throws to close the gap to 29-25 with 1:51 to play.
Archer hit a pair of free throws and Quincy Carter drove to the basket for a layup to make it a two-point game (31-29) in favor of Stephenson heading into the fourth quarter.
Foster-Scott hit a three-pointer for a 34-31 Stephenson (1-1) lead with 6:46 to play. Brown answered with a pair of three-pointers for a 39-38 Panthers’ lead with 2:38 to play.
Foster-Scott struck again for the Jaguars with a steal that turned into an old-fashioned three-point play to give Stephenson back the lead at 41-39 with 46.9 seconds to play.
Quincy Carter hit both ends of the one-plus-one bonus with 40.6 seconds remaining to make it 41-41.
The Panthers led 18-16 at the half despite not scoring in the final 3:41 of the second quarter.
Brown finished with 10 points to lead the Panthers with Carter adding nine points and Archer finished with eight points and seven rebounds.
Foster-Scott had a game high 14 points to lead Stephenson and Trevon Daniel added a double-double of 10 points and 13 rebounds.
Southwest DeKalb’s Lanee Edwards (15) goes baseline against Stephenson’s Kassidy Broussard (12). Photo by Mark Brock)
(G) SW DeKalb 59, Stephenson 49
An 11-4 run in the final 2:44 of the game by the Southwest DeKalb Lady Panthers gave the Class 5A defending state champions their season opening victory 59-49 over DeKalb rivals Stephenson Lady Jaguars.
Senior Naomi Holloway, who scored 11 points in the fourth quarter, hit a three-pointer with 3:25 left in the game as she put the Stephenson team on her back to close a 10-point deficit to within 48-45.
Jada Walton would hit a pair of free throws for the Panthers with 2:44 to play to start the final 11-4 run to put the game away. YaRia Sanders picked up a loose rebound with 2:10 to play and put the ball in the basket to extend the lead to 52-45.
Holloway hit a layup and a pair of free throws to cut the lead back to five (54-49) with 1:39 to play.
Desiray Coulter drove to the basket for a layup and Tierra Williams took a pass from Chantz Cherry with 19 seconds to play to make it 58-49.
Walton would close out the scoring by hitting one of two free throws with 17 seconds to play following a steal.
Stephenson had battled back from an early fourth quarter 43-32 deficit built mainly by Cherry who hit a driving layup, made a steal for an easy bucket and then on another steal was fouled and hit one of two free throws.
Trailing 18-10 with 5:53 left in the first half, Southwest DeKalb’s Jada Walton (7 points) and Cherry (8 points) fueled a furious 15-point run to take a 25-18 lead.
Holloway hit a three-pointer and a pair of free throws as Stephenson closed the gap to 27-24 heading into halftime.
Jada Walton would finish with a 17-point, 10-rebound double-double to lead Southwest (1-0) while Cherry chipped in 16. Holloway finished with a game-high 18 to lead Stephenson (0-1).