Stone Mountain’s Malik Hinton (with ball) gets the ball past Hapeville’s Coleman Riley during first half action at Stone Mountain. (Photo by Mark Brock)
Despite hitting three three-pointers in less than a minute the Stone Mountain Pirates rally attempt came up short against the Hapeville Charter Hornets in a 51-45 loss on Senior Night at Stone Mountain on Tuesday.
Hapeville (14-10, 8-8) led 47-36 with 2:00 minutes to play in the game following a free throw by Coleman Riley when the Pirates (4-21, 1-14) began their comeback attempt.
Malik Hinton got it going with a three-pointer at the 1:53 mark and following a Hapeville turnover against the press applied by the Pirates Hinton nailed his second three in 40 seconds to cut the lead to 47-42.
Hapeville’s Jason Freeman was fouled as the Pirates were trying to slow down the clock and he responded by hitting both end of the one-and-one to make it 49-42 with 52 seconds to play.
Stone Mountain’s Mani Thierre tracked down a loose ball following a missed shot on the Pirates’’ end and lofted a three that stripped the net with 35 seconds remaining to cut the lead to 49-45.
After two misses by the Pirates and two missed free throws by the Hornets Hapeville’s Langston Scales scored his only points of the night with two free throws with six seconds to play to seal the win for Hapeville.
Malik Hinton hit for 28 points to lead Stone Mountain. Copeland had 18 points and 8 rebounds for the Hornets and Amadou Balde added 13 points and 9 rebounds.
The Region 6-4A Tournament is set to begin next week.
Stone Mountain’s Nyla Warren (33) drives inside against Hapeville’s Ava Freeman (23) during Stone Mountain’s Region 6-4A loss to Hapeville. (Photo by Mark Brock)
(G) Hapeville 57, Stone Mountain 32
The Hapeville Lady Hornets jumped to a 10-1 lead in the first quarter and continued to pull away from the Stone Mountain Lady Pirates to a 57-32 win in Region 6-4A girls’ play at Stone Mountain to kick off the night.
Kamaria Youngs got things going by hitting the first of five first-half three-pointers by the Hornets (14-9, 9-7) to open the scoring with just eight seconds off the first quarter clock.
Ava Riley would add another three to make it 8-1 and Markayla Lockhart knocked down two free throws to make it 10-1 with 5:52 left in the opening period. Stone Mountain would finish the first quarter down 14-3 with all three points coming from the free-throw line.
Lockhart and Riley hit back-to-back threes early in the second period to push the advantage to 20-4. Nyla Warren hit Stone Mountain’s first field goal of the night with 4:37 left in the first half as part of a 7-0 run that pulled the Pirates back within nine at 20-11.
Riley responded with a three-pointer and two more baskets driving in for layups to go with four points from Lockhart as part of an 11-1 run to end the half with Hapeville up 31-12.
Hapeville put the game away for good with an 11-0 run in the final 4:48 of the third quarter to take a commanding 46-17 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Saniah Taylor had three buckets from behind the three-point arc on the way to 13 points to lead Stone Mountain. The Pirates collected 45 rebounds led by Shameon King with 17 rebounds and Robyn Ward with 8.
Ava Riley hit for a game-high 20 points to lead Hapeville while Markayla Lockhart hit for 13 points and grabbed 8 rebounds. Gabby Cummings picked off 10 rebounds.