Blue Devils build lead at Gordon, buckle in second half...
December 11, 2008 Devils melt-down in second half, after being up big...
Barnesville, GA - The Summer Hill Blue Devils were on the road, inside the unfriendly confines at Gordon College on Thursday evening. For the first 20-minutes, the Highlanders didn't know what to do with the Devils, who played beautifully on both sides of the ball en route to a 42-28 half-time lead. But, it would prove to be a strange tale of two halves, Gordon used two decisive runs in a 70-point second half explosion to blow open a close game in the closing minutes to claim a 98-81 win.
Summer Hill jumped out to a 5-0 lead early, despite missing opportunities to have Gordon in a bigger hole. Several early turnovers allowed Gordon to regroup. The two teams traded leads several times, before Summer Hill began to build a lead with a defense that was causing the Highlanders problems as they struggled to get clean looks at the basket, shooting only 40% from the field. The active defense was creating good looks on the other end. Proper ball movement found open perimeter shooters, as Richard Davis, Darryl Williams, Courtney George and Joshua White combined for six Summer Hill treys in the opening half. The Devils had built their biggest lead at 14 going into the break, seemingly in control, while shooting a warm 55% from the field, including 6-of-10 from long range.
The tides changed drastically in the second half. The Devils took several ill-advised shots to begin the half. Gordon quickly capitalized each time, triggering a 20-4 run that saw them race back to take a 48-46 lead just four minutes in. From there, the game was a dog-fight, with the lead changing hands repeatedly. Gordon got out to a four-point lead at the 8:40 mark, but Summer Hill worked back into it. Marcus Henderson's turnaround re-knotted the score at 76-all. Gordon quickly answered. Then, George drew a foul, sank both to re-tie. Gordon's Ray Head drove past a defender and banked a 15-footer to put Gordon back up 80-78. Then, White drew another foul and sank one of two freethrow, trimming the Gordon lead to 80-79 with only 2:40 remaining. On the next possession, Willie Woodard spotted for a three on the left wing. Marcus Henderson lunged to contest. A startled Woodard changed his shot, oddly mis-firing, which made the referee assume Henderson fouled. In fact, Henderson was not even close to contact on the play. Nevertheless, Woodard stepped to the line and nailed all three shots. Feeling desparate, SH came down and shot yet another ill-advised long-range shot which Gordon rebounded. Head then, reversed dribble and exectuted a cross-over at the top of the key and drilled a three-point daggar to push Gordon to its largest lead of the game at 86-79 with 2:20 showing. After another perimeter miss by the Devils just seconds later, Atwon Brantley drew a foul and put Gordon up by nine when he sank both free throws. Eight points in a matter of :25 ticks off the clock proved to be the final straw. However, Gordon was not done. Over the final two minutes, Summer Hill repeatedly shot errant treys, only to see Gordon drill two more threes, execute a follow up dunk off a rebound and sink two more freethrows to close out the game with a bewildering and wild frenzy that made the game look like a total blow out!
Gordon College, who moved to 8-4 on the season, was led by Brantley with 22, while Head finished with 18, as did Daveion Zellner. Woodard tallied 16 in the win.
Darrell Waters and White both had 14 for Summer Hill, while George got 13, and Henderson and Williams 10 each. Richard Davis finished with eight and Nagee Smith six. Summer Hill slipped to 9-3 on the season and will now host Cedartown on Sunday afternoon in a 4:30pm tilt at JH Morgan Gym.
Summer Hill gold squad romps 120-51, while SH blue outlasts AWU 93-78....
December 6, 2008 Cartersville, GA - Blue Devils romp over Morris Brown, 120-51 on Saturday night at Aubrey Street Gym. Morris Brown scored the first basket, but it would prove to be their only lead of the game, as the Devils got on track early and raced to a huge 66-21 lead by half time.
The Devils moved to 9-1 on the year and will now host Top 30 ranked Wallace State (AL) on Sunday after noon. Wallace held the #1 National Ranking in the Junior College Polls for a number of weeks last season and finished with a 32-1 record. They also come into Sunday's matchup at JH Morgan Gym with an identical 9-1 record.
Cartersville, GA - The Blue squad of Summer Hill evened it's season record at 3-3 with a win over a veteran AWU team on Saturday night at Aubrey Street Gym.
After building a nine point lead in the first half, the blue relented and AWU worked its way back into the lead at 26-25. Summer Hill regrouped and took a 41-34 lead into the half. With the benefit of a two shot technical to start the second half, AWU kick-started with a 10-0 run that saw them re-claim the lead at 44-41. Summer Hill answered with its own 16-2 run, including eight straight points from Nagee Smith. The run have gave Summer Hill a lead it would nurse the remainder of the night. AWU flirted with comebacks several times down the stretch but good ball movement in the spread offense allowed the Devils increase their lead in the final minutes.
Mike Howren led AWU with 19 points, while Kevin Hammitt had 16, Brandon Smalls 13 and three with 10 points, including Darrell Wilkins, Erie Stanley and Landon McCarty.
Smith paced the Men in Blue with a game-high 30 points, while Demetrius Metcalf had 16, Chris Brown 12, Jamie King 9, Breion Brazier 7, Brice Kellog and Isaih Riobe 6 each, Jarmon Bailey 4, Ken Shaw 2 and Gary Warner 1
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