4A, AREA 4 BOYS SEMIS: Catholic survives upset scare from Bullock County; BTW tramples LAMP

Catholic’s LJ Green has the ball swiped away by Melvin Thomas of Bullock County in the Class 4A, Area 4 semis at the Catholic gym on Wednesday. (Graham Dunn)

By GRAHAM DUNN

Montgomery Catholic basketball has enjoyed a few earth-shaking victories over the years but Wednesday’s battle with Bullock County in the Class 4A, Area 4 semifinal game may be the most shattering, if only for the wild overtime finish.

Catholic survived to move on to the tournament finals, beating the Hornets, 58-57, in a game that literally went down to the final four shots.

The Knights will face Booker T Washington in Friday’s tournament final.

“It wasn’t one to write home about and we didn’t play well but they are as talented as anybody in our area,” Catholic coach Mike Curry said. “They shot the ball well but we stretched it out and made some key shots when we needed it.”

Catholic trailed for most of the contest but when it did take a lead, it was brief. The Hornets usually answered and either tied the game or went ahead, normally with 3-pointers.

That was the case in the final minutes of regulation when they held a five-point lead before Catholic fought back to tie it on a steal and lay in by LJ Green with 51 seconds remaining.

The teams traded buckets for much of the extra period before Bullock County pushed the lead to four with just under a minute to play.

Catholic’s defense had its struggles all night but in the final minute made key steals, the biggest by Green.

Overplaying the passing lane, he swiped a pass and took the length of the court for what would be the winning layup with 14 seconds remaining.

“I play corner (in football), so I became a defensive back on the play,” Green said. “They were making lazy passes most of the night so we were able to pick off a few.”

Catholic had a chance to ice the game on another steal but a dunk attempt was missed allowing Bullock County another chance to win.

In the final seconds, Catholic fans  had to hold their collective breath due to Bullock County having three tips at the basket in the final three seconds.  All three fell just off the rim including one that hung on the rim for what seemed like an eternity.

“We got frustrated driving to the basket and throwing shots up that weren’t falling,” Curry said. “I think our layoff (a week) might have affected us. We were slow out of the gate but take nothing away from Bullock County. They have a very talented team and really took it to us.”

Green finished with 17 points while Josh Palmer added 19 points including five in the overtime period. Ruse also finished with nine points.

Bullock County’s Marlin Bouyer led all scorers with 23 points. The Hornets’ season ended at 6-11.

The Knights (16-5) will face BTW with the winner staying home in the South Sub-Regional round next Tuesday.

Booker T. Washington 67, LAMP 42

The Golden Tigers could not get the offense going, scoring only nine points in the first half in the Class 4A, Area 4 semifinal at Catholic on Wednesday.

The Eagles owned a 27-9 lead at the half and never looked back to advance to the tournament final.  They had nine different players score led by Quez Daniels’ 11 points. Elijah McCray added 10 points for the victors.

LAMP (8-20) got 11 points from Mathias Gourdine and 13 points from Jezreel Fishoe in what became the Tigers’ season finale.