rter
The Best Coverage for Monroe County Sports
5C
February 21, 2018
MARY PERSONS BULLDOGS
Terry Johnson 3B
SPRING SPORTS
4p.m.
Varsity Girls & Boys Tennis
(vs. Jones County)
5:30 p.m.
JV GirlsS0ccer
(vs. Ups0n-Lee)
7:30 p.m.
JV Boys Soccer
(vs. Ups0n-Lee)
Friday; Feb 23
2<1
Sa.turda ;
Monday, Feb, 26
Tuesday, Feb. 27
4 p.m.
Cqeam Baseball
(vs. Henderson)
5:30 p.m.
JV Girls S0ccer
(vs. Griffin)
7:30 p.m.
JV Boys Soccer
(vs. Griffin)
Dogs fall at home to Carver-C01umbus after Holden's hand injury
By Rk:hard Dumas
forsythC ymcr.net
The Mary Persons boys
basketball team's historic sea-
sen came to an inauspicious
end when the Bulldogs were
botmced from the AAAA state
playoffs in the first round on
Saturday.
The No. 2 seed Bulldogs
fell 81-64 at home to visiting
Carver-Columbus, the No. 3
seed from Region 1-AAAA,
preventing MP from advanc-
ing to the Sweet 16 for the
third straight year. MP was
forced to play without its top
player, senior Cam Holden,
who breke his right shoot-
ing hand after landing on it
during a fall in a mid-week
practice. Holden averaged
more than 28 points a game
in 2017-18 and led MP in all
major statistical categories.
The Bulldogs finished the sea-
sen with a new school record
23 wins, and throe of Ml~s
five losses came with Holden
missing from the lineup either
due to injury or suspension~
Despite the loss, MP head
coach Greg Nix said the first-
round defeat did not put a
damper on his squad's many
2017-18 achievements.
,I don't think so," Nix said.
'~ mean it does to our play-
ers because this is the whole
goal the whole year. It wasn't
exactly how many wins we
were going to gel It was get-
ring past the Sweet 16. So, I
told them when we were in
there (looker room), I said:
~rou know what? You are the
best basketball team at Mary
Persons in the last 50 years.
There's a lot to be said about
that. You won the champion-
ship of our own tournament.
You played in the region
championship for a third year
in a row. We've got a lot of
accomplishments. My office
is filling up with trophies
because of y'alL' So we've had
all these accomplishments.
We can't not focus on those
because of an unfortunate
accident"
Despite missing Holden
from the lineup, MP got off
to a selid 7-1 start~ including
a pair of dose-range baskets
by junior small forward
Desmond Williams. But
Carver guard/~J. Watts, who
scored a game-high 34 points,
answered right back with a
double-pump score in traz~-
tion to tie the game at 9-9 and
then a layup off of a steal to
give the 'l'~em their first lead
at 11-9 with 3:47 left in the
first quarter. But MP would
respond with a 5-0 run of its
own on a corner three-pointer
by Dee Morton followed by a
Tre Edge layup to reclaim a
14-11 advantage. However,
moments later, MP peint
guard Rekia Weaver had to
sit down with his third foul,
and the Dogs' momentum
ceased with three minutes
left in the first period, With
Weaver on the bench, Carver
would end the quarter on a
10-3 run to take a 21-17 lead
after one period.
After NIX reinserted Weaver
early in the second period,
things got worse for the
Bulldogs when starting shoot-
ing guard Dee Morton also
Mary Persons point guard Rekia Weaver slashes to the basket during the second half of
MP's 81-64 state playoff loss to Carver-Columbus on Saturday. (Photo/Kim Holderfield)
picked up his third foul with
4:02 left in the second period.
MP was down by just five
at 31-26 at the time and the
game stayed tight with MP
trailing just 35-33 at halflSme
despite Watts breaking down
the Dogs' 1-3-1 zone defense
for a pdr of lefty layups
late in first half. wdtts
led the Tigers with 15 first-
ha]f points while Edge and
Williams picked up the slack
in Holden's absence with 12
points each in the first half.
The explosive Watts then
picked up in the second half
right where he left off, splash-
LnN a long jumper to open the
third period. Despite MFs
offense struggling to gain
traction, the Dogs' defense
kept MP in the game until
late in the third period when
Carver got hot behind the
three-point line. With 2:28 left
in the third quarter, Watts
drove into the paint, where
he gave MP fits all nigh~ and
kicked out to the left corner to
a wide-open Dexter S'munons,
who drained the trey for a
nine-point Tigers' lead at
46-37. Moments later, at~r
MP cut its deficit back to six
on a three-pointer by seldom-
used sephomore Maurice
Shannon, Simmons connected
on another long three-pointer
to push the Tigers' advan-
tage to 49-40. Seconds later,
Sinamons converted a layup
off of a dish from Watts to put
the Tigers ahead by double
digits at 51-40 for the first
time in the contest. Watts
would finish at the rim with
his left hand moments later
to put Carver ahead by 13,
but back-to-back MP three-
pointers by Ty Bouie and
Williams, respectively, nat-
rowed MP's deficit to seven
at 53-46. Carver then led by
nine at 55-46 through three
quarter~ and went about add-
ing to its advantage early in
the fourth period. Carver's
Devin Flowers drove baseline
and absorbed contact for a
layup and one to put the
Tigers ahead 62-48 with 5:47
4eft in the game. With MP
tmilm" ~ by 13 with 3:37 left
and its chances on life sup-
pert, Weaver was whistled for
his fi~ foul, ending his stel-
lar MP playing career. Watts
then took over the remaining
stages of the game, capping a
blowout Tigers' victory with
a right-handed jam with 1:22
left that put the Tigers up by
20 and had Carvers players
and coaches exploding off of
its bench with joy.
Simmons and Flowers
joined Watts in double figures
for the Tigers with 16 and
11 points, respectively. Edge,
also playing his final game
for MP, led the Bulldogs with
16 points. He was joined in
double figures by teammates
Williams and Weaver, who
scored 14 and 10, respectively.
NIX did not lay MFs issues
on Saturday at the hands of
foul trouble, instead focus'rag
on the Dogs' poor shooting,
which included a 39 percent
night from the field and just
64 percent from the free
throw line.
'~ kind of felt like for us to
win today that we were going
to have to really shoot the
ball well," NIX said. "And I
don't think we did that. I don't
think we shot it well at alL.
When you get in a tourna-
ment like this, even though
you're a fast-break tean~
you' re not going to get as
many fast breaks. I talked at
halftime when we were down
by one. I sai& "We've missed
some big opportunities with
these layups that we got off
our steals on our press that
we can't go get back. We've
probably got about four or
five layups that we've misse&
Instead of being 35-33 down,
we ought to be up 41-35 or
even worse. But we've got
to move oral So, second half
when we had open shots, we
didn't knock them down."
Nix said not having Holden
in the lineup dearly had an
impact.
'~fs not just missing 28
peints and 10 rebounds, ifs
missing the heart and the
guts of your team," Holden
said. ' fs missing the tough-
nese. All those guys are tough
in their own right, but his
toughness is what n akes
him great. And his leader-
ship. So if the Clevehnd Cavs
lose LeBren (James), ifs not
gonna go weK And that's 28
points and 10 rebounds and
the heart and guts. I?m not
gonna make excuses, but it
makes a difference"
NIX said he will miss coach-
ing his record-breaking squad,
which featured seven depart-
ing seniors, including three
starters.
'~ur seniors, I went
through with them about
what they were and who they
were when they came into
this program," Nix said. "And
there they are, all seven of
them finishing. Five of them
started in our middle school,
and two of them came on a
lltth later. So the pbasum
that I got for seeing them
grow up and become better
young men and better basket.
ball players and a team. It's
been a great year. The reason
that I think that we've been
successful is I haven't had to
coach attitude and I haven't
had to coach effort very much.
And they are well-behaved
in school, and they've been a
great representative for me
and our school and our bas-
ketball program. I feel very
successful."
With MFs defeat, Carver-
Columbus will next travel
on Thursday for a second
round matchup at Woodward
Academy, the top seed from
Region 4-AAAA, whi~
defeated Hephzibah 80-64 in
the first round.
Meanwhile, the future still
seems bright for MP's boys
basketball program as the
MP JV boys, coached by Jon
Nolton, finished the season
with a 12-4 record.
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