Tucker’s Jamar Graham (25) jumps towards the basket as Lithonia’s Dennis McKenzie (0) comes over to defend during Tucker’s 61-53 Region 4-5A win on Tuesday at Lithonia. (Photo by Mark Brock)
In a key Region 4-5A boys’ basketball game the No. 7 ranked Tucker Tigers hit 12 of 14 free throws in the fourth quarter to hold off the home team Lithonia Bulldogs for a 61-53 win on Tuesday night.
Lithonia took a 40-39 lead into the fourth quarter mainly on the back of Caleb Taylor who scored nine points and grabbed four rebounds in the third period to rally Lithonia back in front.
Tucker took the lead for good on a Khayri Dunn coast-to-coast layup after grabbing a long rebound on the defensive end to put the Tigers ahead 41-40 with 7:35 remaining.
Jamar Graham and Jocquise Oliver combined to hit four consecutive free throws to make it a 6-0 run by Tucker to open the fourth quarter. Oliver would add two more layups on assists from Christion Wharton and Dunn as the Tigers held a 47-42 lead.
Taylor hit a pair of free throws of his own to pull the Bulldogs (15-8, 5-4) within 47-44 with 5:26 to play.
Oliver took a pass from Graham at midcourt and went in for a dunk that brought the Tucker bench and fans to their feet.
Tucker (17-5, 9-0) went on to hit eight of 10 free throws in the final 3:33 of the game to seal the win. Josiah Lawson hit four out of four from the line to go with two by Chance Butler and two of four by Graham.
Lithonia came out quick in the first quarter jumping to a 9-2 lead fueled by a Joshua Daniels’ three-pointer and a three-point play by Taylor. Tucker would rally back to knot the game at 11-11 as Dunn hit a three-pointer at the buzzer.
Cortez Vaughn put Lithonia up 21-15 with a three-point play at the 4:40 mark of the second quarter. Tucker would knot the game at 21-21 as Graham hit four free throws in two trips to the line to sandwich a layup by Christopher Whitmore.
Back-to-back steals by Dun and Butler in the final 1:52 of the first half sent Tucker into the break up 25-24.
Whitmore finished the night with 14 points and 4 rebounds to lead the Tigers while Dunn finished with 11 points. Oliver finished with 9 points (8 in the fourth quarter). Caleb Taylor put together a 17-point, 10-rebound (9 rebounds in the second half) and teammate Marcus Calhoun had 11 points and 7 rebounds.
Lithonia’s Asia Freeman (3) finds an opening behind Tucker’s Jacinta Hollins (32) on the way to two of her 20 points on the night. Freeman and the Lady Bulldogs ran away to a 49-22 win. (Photo by Mark Brock)
(G) Lithonia 49, Tucker 22
The Lady Bulldogs made it a split on the night as they put together a 16-0 run in the third quarter to take complete control on the way to the 49-22 win over the Tucker Lady Tigers.
Tucker cut the Lithonia halftime lead to 21-11 on the opening play of the second half as Jacinta Hollins passed to Bree Williams for a wide-open layup.
Lithonia (7-16, 3-5) answered with a Kaleeya Lowe three-point to jump start the game-deciding 16-0 run by the Bulldogs. Asia Freeman would go on to score eight of the 16 points, Lowe would add a layup and Hollins completed a three-point play. Lithonia turned a 10-point lead into a 26-point lead.
The Bulldogs went almost three-minutes without scoring to open the fourth quarter, but Tucker could only knock four points off the 25-point deficit.
Freeman would score four more points in a 10-0 run by Lithonia that ended up on a driving layup by Alayah Tucker to make it 47-16.
Tucker hit for nine points in the first half and Freeman added eight as Lithonia built a 21-9 first half advantage.
Freeman finished with a game-high 20 points and grabbed 7 rebounds to lead Lithonia. Alayah Tucker finished with 13 points and Hikmat Ogunmuyiwa contributed 6 points and 11 rebounds.
Jacinta Hollins led Tucker with 9 points and 15 rebounds and Ruger finish with 8 points and three rebounds.