Stone Mountain’s Tory Spratt (13) defends in the lane against Chamblee’s Eli Star (23). Chamblee won the Region 5-5A matchup 66-57 at Stone Mountain. (Photo by Mark Brock)
Hitting seven of 10 free throws in the final 48 seconds helped the Chamblee Bulldogs hold off the Stone Mountain Pirates for a 66-57 Region 5-5A road victory on Friday night.
Chamblee (12-8, 7-7) was leading 59-53 with just under a minute to play when the Pirates made two consecutive turnovers that led to them going into foul mode to try to stop the clock. Kormahyah Karmue was finally sent to the line on the sixth foul of the quarter and hit both ends to make it 61-53 with 47.6 seconds left on the game clock.
Denis Ajak was fouled attempting to put an offensive rebound back in and answered Karmue’s free throws with two of his own to cut the lead back six (61-55) with 42 seconds remaining.
Douglass Liggions aided the Bulldog cause hitting four of his six attempts in the final 40 seconds, including two with 3.2 left on the clock to close out the scoring.
The two teams had battled to a 45-45 tie at the end of the third quarter as Stone Mountain’s Ajak scored with seven seconds before the buzzer to knot the game.
Chamblee answered with a 7-0 run to open the fourth quarter to take control of the game. Layups by Ramon McDaniel and Bryson Fleming and three-pointer by Liggions to cap the run propelled the Bulldogs to a 52-45 advantage with 5:35 to play. The run was aided by a Stone Mountain turnover and three rebounds that went out of bounds to Chamblee.
Stone Mountain cut the lead to three (54-51) on an offensive put back by Tory Spratt with 2:24 to play. Chamblee answered right back with another three by Liggions and held of the late Pirate charge.
Liggions finished the night with 18 points (3 three-pointers, 7-9 free throws) to lead the Bulldogs while Bryson Fleming added 12 points and 5 rebounds.
Tory Spratt finished with 11 points and 6 rebounds to pace the Pirates (4-14, 3-9).
Stone Mountain’s Kyra McCrary (40) puts up a shot against the Chamblee Lady Bulldogs’ defense. Chamblee won 57-41 to even the season series at one win apiece. (Photo by Mark Brock)
GIRLS: Chamblee 57, Stone Mountain 41
Kristina Perez scored a game-high 24 points to lead the Chamblee Lady Bulldogs to a 57-41 Region 5-5A win against the homestanding Stone Mountain Lady Pirates in the opening game of the night.
Perez hit three three-pointers in the first 3:27 of the game as the Bulldogs (10-10, 6-7) jumped out to an 11-3 lead before Stone Mountain (9-9, 7-5) roared back to tie the game at 14-14 on a pair of Kyra McCrary free throws with 1:49 left in the quarter.
Talaya Terry got an offensive rebound for a layup underneath with 39 seconds remaining to give Chamblee the lead for good at 16-14 going into the second quarter.
Alana Azeta scored the first five points of the second quarter as Chamblee began to pull away up 21-14 with 6:37 to play in the first half.
Perez hit her fifth three-pointer of the game 34 seconds before the half to send Chamblee to the break up 10 at 29-19.
Chamblee’s Trinity Walls and Stone Mountain’s McCrary traded three-pointers in the final 1:24 of the third quarter as the Bulldogs held a 39-30 lead with one quarter to play.
Perez would score seven fourth-quarter points, including her sixth three of the game, and Azeta added six more as Chamblee kept Stone Mountain at bey the rest of the way.
Azeta joined Perez in double figures with 13 points along with 6 rebounds and Trinity Walls contributed 10 points for Chamblee. Tamia Boone led Stone Mountain with 15 points and 8 rebounds while Kyra McCrary knocked down 10 points and grabbed 8 rebounds of her.