Southwest DeKalb’s Kelvin Peek III gets inside for a basket in the Panthers 46-32 Region 6-4A boys’ win at home over the Stephenson Jaguars on Tuesday night. (Photo by Mark Brock)
The Southwest DeKalb Panthers kicked off a Region 6-4A home sweep by knocking off the Stephenson Jaguars 46-32 in a rare boy’s opening game at Southwest DeKalb on Tuesday night.
A pair of key runs in the second half propelled the Panthers (6-7, 6-1) the first of which was 9-1 run in the final 2:58 of the third quarter to open a 10-point lead.
Nasir Mergen started the run by passing to Azeez Bello for a layup to make it 31-25 on Kelvin Peek III’s offensive put back followed. Messiah Mergan hit a three pointer that sent the Panthers into the fourth quarter up 36-26. The only point by Stephenson was a free throw by Timothy McRae.
Jerel Smith hit three free throws after being fouled on his three-point attempt to cut the lead to 36-29 with 5:56 remaining in the game.
The Panthers then put together an 8-0 spurt started by Sam Turner’s layup following a steal by Bello with 4:07 to play. Peek followed with a nice spin move for a layup before Taron Essex hit back-to-back baskets on an assist from Peek and an offensive rebound to ush the lead to 44-29 with 1:34 left in the game.
McRae hit a three-pointer for the final points of the game for the Jaguars (2-12, 1-4) with 1:14 to play. The Panthers got a pair of free throws from Devon Long and another from Messiah Mergen to close out the 46-32 win.
Southwest DeKalb had a 10-point (17-7) lead with 5:10 left in the first half behind a three-pointer and free throw by Randall Hanks before the Jaguars got things going their way.
Stephenson finished the half on a 12-4 run fueled by three-pointers from Jerel Smith and McRae (who had another basket) and four points from Christian Thompson to close the gap to 21-19 at the half.
McRae had a game-high 13 points for Stephenson while Peek hit for 12 points to lead the Panthers as the only players in double figures.
Southwest DeKalb’s Jah’Neisha Spiers looks for room under the basket against a Stephenson Lady Jaguars’ defender. Spiers led her Lady Panther teammates with 16 points in the 66-27 win. (Photo by Mark Brock)
(G) SW DeKalb 66, Stephenson 27
Jah’Neisha Spiers had 12 first-half points to lead the way for the Southwest DeKalb Lady Panthers on the way to the 66-27 Region 6-4A girls’ victory in the nightcap at Southwest DeKalb.
Spiers had eight of the points in the first quarter on a three-point play off an offensive rebound and a three-pointer with 15 seconds left in the period to give the Lady Panthers (11-4, 7-0) a 15-3 lead heading into the second quarter.
She would hit the first four points of the second quarter to make it 193 with 6:59 left in the half.
Wadole Mila hit from just inside the three-point arc to give Stephenson (7-8, 4-3) its first points of the second quarter before Southwest DeKalb went on a 13-0 run.
Six different Lady Panthers scored in the run led by Mariyah Shields with four points on assists from Camile Files to go up 32-7.
Kamryn Larkin hit a pair of free throws for Stephenson to make it 32-9 at the half.
Larkin opened the second half with a steal for a basket which would be Stephenson’s last for the next 4:28 of the game.
Southwest DeKalb put together a 12-0 spurt with Shamaria Arnold scoring the final six points to up the advantage to 44-22 with 2:42 left in the third quarter.
Larkin hit two three-pointers late in the fourth quarter to go with another by Keira Brooks, but it was too little, too late.
Spiers finished with 16 points and 6 rebounds in the game followed by Arnold with 13 points and 7 rebounds for the Lady Panthers. Larkin finished with 12 points to lead Stephenson.