MABEN — For West Oktibbeha County High School boys basketball coach Michael Crawford, his team”s 64-51 victory against cross-county rival East Oktibbeha on Thursday night was sweet revenge.
The Timberwolves lost an 85-84 double-overtime game against the Titans last Saturday in Maben, which made his team”s victory Thursday in the first night of the West Oktibbeha County High School Christmas Classic especially pleasing.
“I was happy to get that lick back,” Crawford said. “I felt good about the loss in double overtime. But I felt bad we lost it at home. I wanted this game bad.”
A 50-48 victory by the West Oktibbeha girls set the stage for the sweep of East Oktibbeha.
Crawford said the difference between Saturday and Thursday was simple.
“We played defense,” Crawford said. “We only gave up 51 points tonight, instead of 85 last time, a difference of 34 points.”
The Timberwolves practiced defense for the past two weeks, Crawford said, and West Oktibbeha had an arsenal of schemes and setups to eliminate East Oktibbeha”s scoring chances.
The Timberwolves led 17-16 after the first quarter before a 27-point, second-quarter outburst helped them take a 44-30 halftime lead. Crawford pulled out the box-and-one defense in the fourth quarter leading 51-38. The Titans countered with a full-court man-to-man defense before West Oktibbeha went to a spread offense as each team managed only 13 points in the final quarter.
“We have been practicing the stall offense for the past two weeks,” Crawford said. “It paid off for us tonight.”
Evrick Jones led the Timberwolves with 15 points, followed by Aaron Brownlee with 11 points and Dantareous Crawford with 10.
For the Titans, Casey Neal led all scorers with 20 points. Chris Hunter (13 points) and Jamarius Hill (10) also hit double figures.
GIRLS
West Oktibbeha 50, East Oktibbeha 48
History repeated itself for the teams Thursday night, as West Oktibbeha lost the lead in the fourth quarter and rallied in the last 1 minute, 21 seconds.
The Lady Titans (5-6) had a chance to tie the game, but failed on two free throws with a minute left in the game. East Oktibbeha went scoreless in the last two minutes.
“Fouls and turnovers killed us tonight,” East Oktibbeha coach Randy Brooks said. “Every day in practice I preach to take the shot and take care of the ball.”
Brooks said his backcourt players needed extra work after Thursday”s loss.
“Our inside people needed to step up,” he said. “Once again, one player beat us,” Brooks said, pointing to 5-foot-11 sophomore center Jaslyn Bedford”s 19 points. “We have got to get better consistency. … But we”ve only got two seniors, so we”re still young.”
West Oktibbeha tied the game at 48 with 1:21 to play on Bedford”s layup. Brenisha Brownlee converted the first of two free throws at 1:08 to give the Lady Timberwolves the lead. The final point came on a free throw by Shamia Robinson with 3.5 seconds to play.
Brittany Jones had 13 points for West Oktibbeha, while Quanisha Doss (19 points) and Savannah Blair (11) led East Oktibbeha.
Brooks took the loss in stride because he said his girls didn”t have time to worry about the defeat.
“That”s one thing I love about this sport,” he said. “If you win, you don”t have time to celebrate. If you lose, you don”t have time to worry about it. Either way, there”s always another game ahead.”
In today”s Christmas Classic action, the East Oktibbeha girls take on West Lowndes at 4 p.m., followed by their boys teams at 5:30 p.m. Aberdeen goes against New Hope in games featuring girls (7 p.m.) and boys (8:30 p.m.).
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