Huntington drops tight one in overtime

By Jeff Edwards (Contact) | The Natchez Democrat

Published Saturday, January 19, 2008

FERRIDAY — The Huntington Hounds had a great opportunity to move into a tie for first place in MPSA District 6-A Friday night.

But, a turnover and buzzer-beating layup by Franklin Academy sent the Hounds to a disappointing 55-53 overtime loss.

With the game tied in the closing seconds of overtime, the Hounds had the ball and a chance to win.

However, Jody Cottongin lost the ball as he drove the lane. Franklin Academy’s Nick Williams scooped up the loose ball and tossed it ahead to Darren Collie, who laid it in with three seconds left for the win.

“We wanted to penetrate and either pull up for a jumper or kick it out to the open wing,” Huntington coach David Boydstun said. “At the worst, we wanted to go to a second overtime, but we turned it over and they made the play at the end.”

The Hounds dropped to 8-11 overall and 3-2 in district play with the loss while Franklin Academy improved to 12-8 and 4-1 in the district.

“A win would have put us in a tie for first place,” Boydstun said. “Now we’ve got to scramble to be in second.”

The frantic finish was fitting for a game that was close the entire way.

Huntington trailed basically the whole game and found themselves down 44-40 entering the fourth quarter.

The Cougar lead was still three points with time winding down, when Tyler Peré worked himself open and drained a three from the right wing with five seconds left to tie the score at 49.

“I told the guys in the huddle to let anyone shoot the ball except for (Peré),” Franklin Academy coach Phil Jackson said. “But he made a great shot. He had two guys in his face but he still managed to knock it in.”

After falling behind early in the overtime period, Huntington took a 53-51 lead on a Kevin Brown jumped with 2:05 remaining.

However, Franklin Academy would tie the score back up with 1:29 remaining on two free throws by Caleb Haring which set up the frenetic finish.

Peré led Huntington with 21 points while Cottongin scored nine.

The Cougars were led by Haring’s 21 points while Shelby Zeagler scored 14, with 12 of those coming in the first half.

Huntington girls 53, Franklin Academy 39

The Huntington Lady Hounds used a 15-1 run in the third quarter to turn a close game into a runaway over the Lady Cougars of Franklin Academy.

The Lady Hounds (9-15, 3-4) were only up 27-24 early in the third, but a three-pointer by Julia Corbett started the run that didn’t end until early in the fourth quarter with Huntington up 42-24.

“We changed to a 1-3-1 defense to put more pressure on them,” Huntington coach Penny Moak said. “We were able to trap them and force several turnovers.”

It was also a good night for Huntington’s offense, which got contributions from other players besides Phyllicia Woods, who normally is the team’s leading scorer.

“She usually is our big scorer but they keyed in on her tonight and some other people stepped up,” Moak said. “They took shots they wouldn’t normally take and they went down. Julia and Emilee (Johns) did a real good job and we needed them to step up.”

Johns was Huntington’s leading scorer with 14 points while Woods had 12 and Donna Tarver scored 11. Corbett added eight points.

Franklin Academy was led by Katie Little with 18 points.