Asia Freeman hit a layup and was one for two from the free-throw line in the final 27 seconds to help the Lithonia Lady Bulldogs hold off the Martin Luther King Jr. Lady Lions 43-38 to start a Region 5-5A by the homestanding Bulldogs on Tuesday night.

Lithonia (5-14, 4-8) was holding a slim 40-38 lead with 45.3 seconds to play following a turnover that led to King’s Nazia Smith hitting a pair of free throws.

Freeman found an opening to the basket with 27 seconds remaining to hit a layup to extend the lead to 42-38. On King’s next possession a turnover led to Freeman with the ball in her hands again. She was fouled with 6.8 seconds to play and hit the front end of the one-plus-bonus to give the Bulldogs the final five-point margin of 43-38.

King (4-15, 4-7) had to rally from an early 8-0 deficit to tie the game at 11-11 on a buzzer-beating stick-back by Neveah Taylor to end the first quarter.

The game was tied twice more in the second quarter, the last time at 19-19 on two free throws by King’s Smith. Jasmine Benson hit two free throws and Asya Ward hit a driving layup to push the Bulldogs back ahead 23-19 with 30 seconds to play in the half.

Smith would hit a pull up jumper with 11 seconds left to pull King back within 23-21 at the break.

King took third quarter leads of 24-23 on a basket by Angel Tower and again at 26-25 on a put-back by Kaya Jarvis with 2:53 to play in the period.

Freeman would fuel an 8-0 run by the Bulldogs with three consecutive baskets and Ward added a short jumper late to send Lithonia into the final quarter of action up 33-26.

King cut the lead to two three-times before Freeman closed out the game in the final 27 seconds.

Freeman finished the night with a game 23 points along with 8 rebounds to lead Lithonia. Ward added 12 points and 8 rebounds and D’Azhia Woods pulled down 17 rebounds. Nazia Smith had 10 points to lead the Lady Lions along with 7 rebounds.

BOYS: Lithonia 60, M.L. King 32
The Lithonia Bulldogs used a big 17-point run in the final 2:20 of the first quarter and never looked back in a 60-32 Region 5-5A home win over the Martin Luther King Jr. Lions.

Leading 11-8 after a basket and free throw by King’s Joshua Brown, the Bulldogs forced five turnovers and hit four three-pointers in the 17-0 run to pull away. Caleb Taylor got a three-pointer off transition to start the run and long distance shooting for the Bulldogs.

Josh Daniels followed with an old-fashioned three-point play with 1:57 to play and Chase Champion followed with back-to-back threes to make it 23-8 with 1:00 minute remaining. Daniels hit a layup and Taylor followed with his second three of the run with 10 seconds to go in the period to send Lithonia into the second quarter with a comfortable 28-8 advantage.

A Daniels dunk off a steal by Cortez Vaughn with 5:11 left in the first half made it 34-12 and Lithonia cruised into the half up 40-22.

Lithonia (15-6, 9-3) opened the second half on a 9-0 run with Daniels getting two quick baskets as the lead went to 49-22 before brown hit a jumper to end the run with 4:15 left in the quarter. The quarter ended with Lithonia holding a 53-27 advantage.

The Bulldogs had another run to start the fourth quarter as back-to-back drives to the basket by Champion and Kai McCann.

Martin Luther King’s Devin Dowers hit a three-pointer to make it 58-30 with 4:11 to play for the Lions’ last bucket of the night.

Taylor topped the game with 15 points to lead Lithonia while Champion added 14 points and 5 rebounds, Josh Daniels 11 points and Elijah Williams pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds.

Joshua Brown had 7 points for the Lions to go with 6 by Kaleb Brown, 5 by Devin Dowers and Zion Vasssal added 2 points to go with 9 rebounds.