By Chris Stephens, Associate Sports Editor
Daily Tribune News
http://www.daily-tribune.com
Published December 16, 2007 10:50 PM CST
The Summer Hill Blue Devils experienced a bad night shooting against the Fort McPherson Knights as two of their leading scorers were held to a combined 11 points. However, Mike Reynolds and Brandon Harris stepped up for the Blue Devils to lead them to an 83-73 victory in the championship game of the Blue Devil-Georgia Shootout Invitational at the J.H. Morgan Gym on Aubrey Street Sunday.
"Some of our guys just had off nights," said Summer Hill head coach David Archer. "But, you have to give Fort McPherson credit. They played great defense and really took it to us. They played us tough and we knew they would coming into this game."
The teams stayed even through most of the first half. Up 20-19, Summer Hill went on an 11-0 run, causing three turnovers in the process, to give them a 31-19 lead. The Blue Devils went into halftime up 35-21, but knew they still had 20 minutes left to go.
"Being a military team, you know they're in shape," Archer said.
The second half saw the teams continue to trade buckets with the Knights until Fort McPherson went on a quick run to close the scoring to 59-53 after a Calvin Artis hit a 3-pointer. However, Terry Albert answered with a 3-pointer of his own to put the Blue Devils up by nine. On Summer Hill's next trip down the floor, Chris Morgan drained the last Summer Hill 3-pointer of the game to give the Blue Devils a 74-62 lead. The Knights then went on an 8-2 run, culminating when Artis knocked down a 3-pointer, was fouled and hit the ensuing free throw to bring the score to 76-70 in favor of Summer Hill. However, that was the last run for Fort McPherson as Summer Hill ended the game on a 7-3 run, including a thunderous dunk by Harris in the closing seconds of the game.
"Our defense was great," Archer said. "It's probably the best defense we've played all year." Archer said just because his team played great defense, doesn't mean it always translates on the offensive end. "We had some guys who missed some easy layups," Archer said. "It's just something that happens. Luckily, we had a nice spread to be able to hang onto the game."
Phillip James led Fort Mac with 16, while James Astin had 14, Calvin Artis 12 and Lance Williams 10. To assist Harris and Reynolds for Summer Hill (6-4), DeMarlow Simmons and Chris Morgan each had 10, while Marcus Henderson had nine pts and nine rebounds, Terry Albert five, Scott Windom four. Darrell Jones, Dee Henderson and Chris Brown each contribute two in the win.
Harris led all scorers with 23 points and 14 rebounds, while Reynolds had 18 points. "Brandon is a very versatile player," Archer said. "His versatility allows him to pick up the slack for guys who are having off nights. We can play him in the three, four or five. He runs the floor well and gets a lot of hustle points and hustle rebounds."
AWU Fire 110 Cedartown Bulldogs (PG) 91...
AWU got 31 points from Mike Howren and downed Cedartown 110-91 to capture 3rd Place in the Blue Devil-Georgia Shootout on Sunday afternoon at JH Morgan Gym. Cedartown led much of the first half, before Howren got hot the hot hand to help AWU go in to the half up 49-44. Howren dropped 21 in the first half. In the second half, Antonio Cook took over and scored 20 of this total 27 to help AWU extend its lead over the Bulldogs and ride to an easy victory.
NaJee Smith led Cedartown (0-3) with 29 points, while Chris Careathers had 16, Ivy Boozer 16, Kendric Sewell 14, Nick Diamon six and Travis Pace four. To go along with the Howren-Cook duo, AWU (1-1) got 14 from Carter Deems, 13 from Darrell Wilkins, and seven from Antone Anderson.
SEBL Select Division Action:
Summer Hill Blue Devils (B) 104 Cedartown (B) 97...
CHRIS BROWN POURS IN 33 TO LEAD DEVILS...
In other action, the Summer Hill Blue Devils B-team got off to a great start with a 104-97 come from behind win over the Cedartown B-team. Summer Hill led early by as many as eight, but Cedartown went on a spurt behind Albert Ware and Curtis Diamon, to build a big 49-34 lead with 4:50 to go in the half. Behind Chris Brown and Terry Albert, the Devils closed the half with a 21-6 run, to close to with in 56-55 going into the break.
Summer Hill battled from behind the entire second half. With 8:04 remaining and still down by 10, Chris Nicols buried a three to get Summer Hill with in seven, triggering run that saw the local barrel through to take the lead. The Devils defense picked up, causing Cedartown to go cold. In the closing minute, the Devils went 5 of 7 from the line to extend the lead and claim the victory.
Albert Ware led Cedartown (0-1) with 31 points, while Diamond finished with 16 and Najee Smith 10. Ayron Adams and Justin Gibson also both had 10, with Demetris Washington chipping in nine and Gaston Diamon eight, and Zach Johnson three.
For Summer Hill (1-0), Chris Brown had a career high 33 points, while Albert had 22, Dee Henderson 15, Terry Richards 13, Dusten Glenn 12, Kyle Reddy four, Chris Nichols three and Justen Beavers two.
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