The South Pike Eagles defeated the Amite County Trojans 79-70 Friday night behind a career night by senior point guard Derrick Horton.
Horton scored a game-high 28 points and shot 16-of-19 from the free throw line in the victory. The Eagles improved to 6-2 on the season with the victory; the Trojans’ record dropped to 1-4 following the defeat, but Friday night was Amite County’s first home loss of the season.
The Trojans jumped out to an early 20-14 lead after one quarter of play, and maintained their lead into halftime. South Pike head coach Joe Taylor, displeased with his team’s effort in the first half, said he saw a noticeable change in his team coming out of halftime.
“We did not play well in the first half,” Taylor said. “The second half was different.”
The Eagles’ second half was indeed different, not only in effort but in style of play. The normally jump shot-happy Eagles abandoned the 3-point shot that had been so kind to them to this point in the season, and instead attacked the Trojans inside and from the free throw line.
South Pike attempted a whopping 45 free throws on the evening, led by Horton’s 19. Seven other Eagles attempted at least two free throws as South Pike earned 26 points from the charity stripe alone.
Horton did his work in the paint, knocking down 6-of-9 2-point field goals while missing all three of his 3-point attempts.
As a team, South Pike made just 3-of-13 field goals from beyond the 3-point arc.
“Without even attempting a 3-pointer in the third and fourth quarters, we managed to score 48 of the 79 points in the second half,” Taylor said.
Jamorris Shaw contributed 14 points to the winning cause on 6-of-11 shooting, while teammate Shucori Hurst added 13 points.
Friday night was the second time South Pike had topped Amite County after the Eagles topped the Trojans 65-56 at home on Nov. 26 as part of the South Pike Thanksgiving Tournament.
The Eagles have a week off before traveling to take on Franklin County on Friday, Dec. 13. The game is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.
