Druid Hills’ Elonzo Milla hits a reverse layup during the third quarter of Red Devils heart-thumping 52-49 win over the Stephenson Jaguars in Region 6-4A at Druid Hills. (Photo by Mark Brock)
The Druid Hills Red Devils hit 13 of 20 free throws in the fourth quarter and four of the six in the final 23 seconds to hold off a furious come-back attempt by the Stephenson Jaguars in Region 6-4A play at Druid Hills on Tuesday night.
Austin Walker’s reverse layup with 3:10 to play to give the Red Devils (13-8, 8-4) a 45-35 lead then the Jaguars (4-15, 2-8) turned up the pressure forcing several turnovers to score six consecutive points to pull within 45-41 with 2:14 remaining.
Christian Thompson played a big role with a drive and two free throws and grabbed a rebound going out of bounds and got it back to Zavaan Muschett who laid it up and in in between Thompson’s two other plays.
Two free throws by Malachi Smith and another by Quasim Prophet had the Red Devils up 51-47 with 10.2 seconds to play but the Jaguars were not going away.
Thompson, who had all 12 of his points in the fourth quarter, pulled Stephenson within 51-49 with 4.8 seconds to play.
Josiah Marsh hit one of two free throws with 3.6 seconds left on the clock to make it a 52-49 lead and the Red Devils had one last opportunity.
Druid Hills inbounded the basketball and Druid Hills fouled Jaelin Joseph with 1.1 seconds to play to keep the Jaguars from getting off three-pointer. Joseph missed both free throws, the second on purpose, and time ran off to preserve the win for the home team.
Druid Hills led 24-20 at the half on a buzzer beating three-pointer by Smith to take the advantage heading into the break.
Elonzo Milla helped the Red Devils build as much as a 15-point lead in the third period with eight points in the third period including three free throws with 2:39 to play to make it 37-22.
Milla finished with 13 points and eight rebounds to lead Druid Hills in scoring while Marsh finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds and Smith added 12 more. Druid Hills finished 19-28 at the line.
Stephenson got 12 points from Christian Thompson, seven points and nine rebounds from Jaelin Joseph and five points and 10 rebounds from Zavaan Muschett
Stephenson’s Raven Robertson goes in for a basket inside by Druid Hills’ Anissa Brailsford (23) during the Lady Jaguars 68-44 Region 6-4A win at Druid Hills. (Photo by Mark Brock)
(G) Stephenson 68, Druid Hills 44
The Stephenson Lady Jaguars outscored the Druid Hills Lady Red Devils 53-32 over the final three quarters enroute to a 68-44 Region 6-4A girls’ contest to open the night at Druid Hills.
Wadole Milla hit for 15 points and grabbed five rebounds in the first half, including eight points in the final 3:21 of the second quarter on two treys and an offensive put back to spur the Lady Jaguars (10-9, 7-4) to a 32-20 halftime lead.
Anissa Brailsford and Skylon Forrest opened the second half with baskets for Druid Hills (8-11, 6-6) to close the gap to 32-24 with 7:21 left in the quarter.
Stephenson answered by scoring 16 points the rest of the quarter and holding Druid Hills to five to take 48-29 lead into the fourth quarter. Back-to-back threes by Raven Robertson and Kiera Brooks was part of a 10-0 run in the final 4:48 for Stephenson.
An 11-2 run to open the fourth quarter left no doubt the Jaguars would take home the win. Sarah Okorowanta had six points in the run for Stephenson as the lead expanded to 59-33 with 5:00 remaining.
Mila finished with 19 points and seven rebounds to lead Stephenson. Okorowanta hit for 15 points and grabbed 12 rebounds and Raven Robertson chipped in 10 points.
Forrest hit for a team-high 18 points for Druid Hills and teammate Anissa Brailsford added 13 points and grabbed eight rebounds.