Martin Luther King Jr.’s Terin Wofford (0) tries to cut off Stone Mountain’s Malik Hinton (11) on a fast break during second half action of the Lions’ 92-46 Region 5-5A win. (Photo by Mark Brock)
A 17-2 run to open the second half broke open the game for the Martin Luther King Jr. Lions on the way to a 92 46 Region 5-5A doubleheader sweep of the home team Stone Mountain Pirates on Tuesday night.
The Lions (7-3, 5-2) held a 13-point margin of 34-21 at the half and the Pirates quickly trimmed it to 10 on a three-pointer by Dennis Ajak.
Stone Mountain scored just two points over the next five minutes of the third quarter as the Lions reeled off 17 points as Martweze Grier got the run started with an offensive put back following the three by Ajak.
Grier would score six points in the run while Keaton Tait added five including a put back of his own with 2:55 to play in the quarter to make it 51-26.
Lunden Brown broke the big run by the Lions with a drive to the basket only to have Grier complete a three-point play off an inbounds pass from Wakkeem Lawton. Brown finished the third quarter with a basket off a length of the court pass from Tait to send the Lions into the final quarter of play leading 58-34.
Kendall Hamilton got two quick baskets to go with another by Kaleb Brown as the lead expanded to 64-34.
Wofford had a one-handed slam with 4:21 to play to extend the lead to 72-40 and then upped the lead to 40 points on a layup off a half court pass from Grier at the 3:09 mark of the quarter.
Jeremiah Ruffin had six points in the fourth quarter for the Pirates (0-5, 0-3), but Korynn Sterling finished the game off with two baskets in the final 21 seconds for the final of 92-46.
Tait fueled a 9-0 run late in the first quarter with six points to put his Lions team up 16-6 after the first period of play. King scored six points in 40 seconds as Grier’s drive to the basket made it a 22-8 game with 6:00 left on the first half clock.
Deshun Dumas took the ball to the basket on a pass from Brown to put the Lions up 15 (34-19) with 1:02 to play in the first half. Tory spratt and Ruffin each hit one of two from the free-throw line in the final 33 seconds to close the gap to 34-21 at the break.
Grier led the way for the Lions with a game-high 18 points followed by Tait with 17 points and 8 rebounds and Terin Wofford with 16 points and 5 rebounds.
Ruffin had a team-high 11 points to lead the Pirates and Lunden Brown had 8 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.
Stone Mountain’s Kyra McCrary (40) races up court against Martin Luther King Jr.’s Jana Berry (24) in the third quarter of King’s 77-34 win. (Photo by Mark Brock)
(G) M.L. King 77, Stone Mountain 34
Senior Alaija Coates poured 27 points into the goal to lead the Martin Luther King Jr. Lady Lions to a 77-34 Region 5-5A win over the Stone Mountain Lady Pirates in the opener.
Coates scored 10 of her points in the first quarter, including a pair of three-pointers, as the Lions (7-3, 5-2) put up 20 points in the opening frame to go up 20-7 after the opening frame of the game.
Stone Mountain’s Kyra McCrary scored all of her team’s seven points in the first quarter.
Three King players scored four points in the second quarter while Stone Mountain scored just four points as a team to trail 39-11 at the half.
McCrary put up nine points in the third quarter but a three-pointer by Lauren Prather and two free throws by Kamora Reynolds had the Lady Lions up 51-26 with one quarter to play.
Coates put up 10 of her 27 points in the final quarter as Stone Mountain (4-4, 3-4) could pull no closer.
Victoria Nwanze, Lauren Prather and Atarah McNeil chipped in 10 points each in the game. McCrary finished with a game-high 20 points and had 11 second half rebounds to lead Stone Mountain and Evangeline Niyongushima added 12 points.