The No. 5 ranked Southwest DeKalb Panthers got a pair of free throws from Kendarius Johnson with 12.1 seconds to play to survive a Region 5-5A high school basketball road test at No. 9 ranked Lithonia on Tuesday.
The hard fought, defensive struggle featured five lead changes in the final 2:11 of the game as the two teams tried to get control of the game.
Tied at 30-30 heading into the fourth quarter thanks to a three-pointer by Lithonia’s Eric Gaines that beat the buzzer to end the third period.
Tasim Sams propelled the Bulldogs (6-2, 1-1) to a 33-30 lead to open the fourth quarter as he hit a three-pointer from the left wing. The Bulldogs led again by three on a Sams layup on a nice pass by Gaines to make it a 37-34 advantage with 2:42 to play.
James Glisson hit a pair of free throws to pull the Panthers (5-2, 2-1) to within 36-37 at the 2:22 mark. Johnson would give the Panthers their first lead of the fourth quarter at 38-37 with a steal and one-handed slam dunk with 2:11 to play.
Lithonia regained the lead at 39-38 on a pair of Bryson Rockliff free throws with 1:45 remaining. Sams got a steal following the Rockliff free throws, but the Bulldogs turned the ball over.
Johnson would hit third and fourth free throw of the quarter to push the Panthers up 40-39 with one minute left in the game.
Lithonia answered by getting to the offensive glass as Ziven Alexander tipped in a miss by Rockliff to put the Bulldogs up 41-40 with just 26 seconds remaining.
It was Johnson again for the Panthers as he was fouled driving to the basket with 12.1 seconds to play and went to the line for the third time in the quarter. He calmly hit both free throws putting his team up 42-41.
The Bulldogs moved up court and a shot with 2.4 seconds to play was short and Southwest DeKalb seemingly had the game in hand needing to inbounds the ball and run out the clock. A long pass down court was intercepted by Sams and the Bulldogs called time out with 2.1 seconds to play.
Inbounding into their end of the court, the Bulldogs were forced to attempt a shot from over half court which was partially blocked and fell well short of the goal as the buzzer sounded.
Southwest DeKalb led by as much as five points on three occasions in the first half, but trailed 23-22 at the half as Sams got a break away dunk with under a minute to play in the first half. Alexander had a layup off of a steal by Demetrius Collins and Rockliff hit a three-pointer in an 8-2 run in the final four minutes of the first half.
Kendarius Johnson hit for a game-high 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead the Panthers while James Glisson added 10 points and seven boards.
Ziven Alexander had a 10-point, 10-rebound double-double to lead the Bulldogs.
(G) SW DeKalb 50, Lithonia 11
The No. 8 ranked Southwest DeKalb Lady Panthers rolled out to a 22-0 lead in the first quarter and cruised to a 50-11 win over the home team Lithonia Lady Bulldogs in the night’s girls’ Region 5-5A basketball contest.
Eight different Lady Panthers (3-3, 3-0) scored in the first quarter led by Michaela Benefield’s five points to take the 22-0 advantage into the second quarter.
Adrieanna Brownlee put in four of the Southwest DeKalb’s 10 second -quarter points and Lithonia’s Zaryanna Mitchell scored the Lady Bulldogs first basket of the game as the teams went to the break. Southwest was up 32-5 as the first half buzzer sounded.
Benefield’s basket with 12 seconds left in the third quarter gave Southwest DeKalb a 40-8 lead with one quarter to play.
Raven Thurman’s layup and two free throws with 2:29 to play made it a 48-8 advantage as Southwest would score just two more points.
Brownlee finished with 12 points to lead the Lady Panthers while Jamia Wright put in six points to lead Lithonia.