East Oktibbeha boys see rally fall short

BEN WAIT

CRAWFORD – The East Oktibbeha boys basketball team's bid for a come from behind victory fell short Saturday night.

Jessie Fulwiley hit the game-winning shot with 3.3 seconds left to go the give the Noxapater Tigers a 68-67 victory over the Titans.

"I was speechless," Titan head coach Barnett Robinson said of Fulwiley's shot. "Right there at the end, we dropped the ball."

The Titans trailed for most of the second half until they went on a 6-0 run late in the fourth quarter to take a 67-66 lead. That lead lasted less than 15 seconds.

"I am very proud that they continued to fight," Robinson said "Like I said, we just continue to work on the little things now and get ready for the district tournament."

The Titans held a 22-21 lead midway through the second quarter before the Tigers went on an 8-0 run to take a 29-22 lead.

Noxapater took a double digit lead at 39-29 into the locker room at halftime.

"We played good and it was a hard fought game between both teams," Robinson said "(It was a ) real good competitive game."

The Tigers were led by Shavon Sherrod with 26 points, Trey Baber with 20 points and Fulwiley with 12 points.

Chris Harris led the Titans with 23 points. Davonte Lucious added 22 and Davalyn Bell chipped in 14.

Girls Game
East Oktibbeha 65,
Noxapater 44

CRAWFORD – A strong third quarter lifted the Lady Titans passed the Lady Tigers.

Entering the third quarter, East Oktibbeha held a 29-23 lead. By the time the fourth quarter rolled around, the Lady Titans had stretched their lead out to 52-30.

"We talked to them about it," East Oktibbeha head coach Pam Roberts said of playing better defense. "(I) told them we had to step up the defense and go back to our usual 1-3-1 zone. We have been comfortable with that this year and it has been working for us."

The Lady Tigers were unable to score back-to-back field goals in the third quarter.

The Lady Titans got into foul trouble in the first half, but that all changed in the third quarter.
Nine of Noxapater's 23 points in the first half came from the free-throw line.

"We got into foul trouble early," Roberts said. "We had six fouls the first quarter. We told them to play off of them a little bit."

The Lady Tigers were led by Hannah Hamilton with 25 points.

Quanisha Doss led the Lady Titans with 28 points.
Both East Oktibbeha squads will be back in action Tuesday when they travel to Ethel.