Vikings fall in playoff opener, Sicily Island wins 90-18

Published 12:01 am Saturday, February 28, 2015

ALBANY, La. — Quincy Sykes led No. 11 seed Albany High School with a game-high 20 points and Justin Thompson added 18 points as the Hornets rallied in the fourth quarter to defeat the No. 22 seed and upset-minded Vidalia High School Vikings 67-60 Friday night in the bi-district round of the LHSAA Class 3A Playoffs.

Even though Albany went into this game with a better overall record and as the District 8-3A champion, Vidalia would not back down – at least not for the first three quarters.

The Vikings, who ended up in a tie for second place in District 3-3A, hung tough with the Hornets throughout the first half and were only down by seven points, 36-29, at the break.

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Vidalia turned up the defensive pressure a few notches and that allowed the Vikings to outscore Albany 19-8 in the third quarter for a 48-44 advantage. But the Hornets did the exact same thing to the Vikings and outscored them 23-12 in the fourth quarter.

Julius Wilson finished with 18 points and Malik Jefferson had 15 points to lead Vidalia, which finished with an overall record of 15-12.

Sicily Island 90, St. Joseph’s (Plaucheville) 18

SICILY ISLAND — Henry Higgs led No. 9 seed Sicily Island with 21 points and Tyreke Tolliver had 17 points to lead four Tigers players in double figures as they steamrolled past the No. 24 seed St. Joseph’s (Plaucheville) Eagles 90-18 Friday night in the bi-district round of the LHSAA Class C Playoffs.

This was a mismatch from the get-go. And it should have considering that Sicily Island was the champion of District 2-C and St. Joseph’s won just two games all season and none in its district.

Landrell James chipped in with 14 points and Ryan Mason added 12 points for Sicily Island. The only player not to for Sicily Island. The only player not to score in double figures for the Tigers was Larry Plummer, who had nine points.

“We had a situation where we had to sit down one of our starters for disciplinary reasons. Basically, Larry filled the role of major distributor, filling the role of Landrell James and he got us started with 3-pointers,” Tigers head coach Curtis Shavers said.

Sicily Island jumped out to a 30-3 lead after one quarter of play and by the time halftime arrived, this game was over as the Tigers had a more-than-commanding 54-5 lead. The third quarter was more of the same as the Tigers outscored the Eagles 29-4.

“Tyreke had some steals and easy baskets that Larry gave him. It gave us a chance to work on some defenses,” Shavers said. “It also gave us a chance to work on our press, but more importantly work on different defenses.”

Sicily Island (19-19) next plays at Pleasant Hill at a date and time to be determined early next week in the regional round.