Earle drops thriller to Marked Tree

Earle drops thriller to Marked Tree

Bulldogs come up short in shootout with Indians

By Mark Randall

news@theeveningtimes.com

Earle Bulldogs senior boys learned a painful lesson on Tuesday against one of their biggest rivals. Forget the rankings. Always remember that basketball is played in two halves. Stay out of foul trouble. And hit your free throws.

The No. 1 ranked Bulldogs (12-3,7-1) had a late game defensive meltdown and was outscored 16-8 by No. 5 Marked Tree in the fourth quarter to steal a 69-66 come from behind win in Earle in senior boy’s basketball 2A-6 conference matchup on Tuesday between the two regional rivals.

Earle was up 66-65 with :40 second to play, but Israel Malone’s basket put the Indians up 67-66 with :19 second to go.

Darius Cisero missed a pair of free throws that would have put Earle back on top, then missed a chance to tie it on a three pointer on the final shot of the game.

“I hate it that we lost it at the end,” said a downcast Coach Carl Miler. “We had a meltdown on the defensive side. We played good for three quarters. Then we just stopped playing down the stretch for a minute.”

Earle led 14-13 after the first period. Marked Tree took a 20-19 lead with 4:43 to play in the second period, but the Bulldogs retook the lead on a three pointer by Donerius Crowder with 4:04 to play to retake a 2220 lead.

The Bulldogs then went on a six point run. Diviria Smith hit a pair of free throws to put Earle up 24-20 then hit a bucket to make it 26-20. Marked Tree’s Jack Brown had a chance to tie the game with 1:35 left in the half but missed a pair of free throws. The Bulldogs added a three pointer to go up 29-20. Marked Tree’s Trayvius Brown hit a free throw with :07 seconds left in the half to pull the Indians to within four 29-25.

Miller said he told the team in the locker room at half time to forget about the rankings and reminded them that they still had another half of basketball to play and to play smarter down the stretch.

“I told them the game isn’t over,” Miller said. “

We had a pretty good lead.

But I told them it’s not one half. I told them they can't lay down because it See BULLDOGS on Page 8 BULLDOGS______________

Continued from Page 7

isn’t over. This is a rivalry game. I told them don’t worry about the rankings.”

Earle was ahead 52-43 at the end of the third, but the Indians had their own run in the fourth period to cut the deficit to 58-55 with 4:33 to play.

Marked Tree’s Trayvius Brown trimmed the lead to 63-62 on a free throw.

The Bulldogs pulled ahead 66-62, but Marked Tree cut it down to two after Jack Brown was fouled and sunk a pair of free throws with 1:16 to go to get the Indians back within two.

With Earle up 66-65, Jack Brown was fouled but missed his second free throw attempt that would have tied the game with :40 second remaining.

Israel Malone hit a bucket to give Marked Tree a 6766 lead with :19 seconds to go. Darius Cisero drew a late foul with :09 seconds left and had a chance to win it for the Bulldogs, but missed a pair of free throws to tie it and re-take the lead for Earle.

Malone drew a foul for Marked Tree with :07 seconds to pay and hit a pair of free throws to put the Indians up by three. Cisero’s three point attempt missed the mark as time expired.

Jack Brown led Marked Tree with 23 points. Trayvius Brown had 21 points and Malone pumped in 20 points for the Indians.

about. Whenever one of the

Miller said the loss at

home hurt, but that the

team can right the ship.

However, he said the team

will have to play a lot

smarter on defense and hit their free throws going

forward.

“We had some foul trouble,” Miller said. “You can’t do that in a tight game. And you’ve got to make your free throws.

They made theirs. We missed ours. That’s the dif- ference in the ballgame.”

“It’s not the end of the world. But when you play that way against a good team and it’s a rivalry game, they wanted it. But Marked Tree wanted that game tonight. We needed it. But they wanted it more than we did. We’ve got to go up to their place now and try and beat them at their place and steal one back from them.”

Devonta McKinney led the Bulldogs with 20 points. Diviria Smith added 17 points, Donerius Crowder had 13, Kevon Smith scored 12 points, and Cisero pumped in sev-

en points.

“Diviria had a good game for us,” Miller said. “But my senior guards have to step up a bit. I’ve got to get more out of them. They’ve got to be able to hound them down the stretch and not panic like that. We had home conference game.

“They’re third of fourth in the conference,” Miller said. “They’re pretty good. They’re going to come in here and try and steal one. We beat them in their place. So they’re going to try and come here and beat us in our place. So we’ve got to hurry up and put this behind us and get ready for this one.”

Earle Bulldog Devonta McKinney (20) goes to the hole against Marked Tree. McKinney was a standout on both sides of the ball Tuesday night against Marked Tree but the Bulldogs fell short.

Photo by Mark Randall