LIBERTY — With district tournaments two and a half weeks away, wins are getting harder to come by and it no longer matters whether it’s by one point or six.
The North Pike girls were taken to the buzzer by the Amite County Trojans in Liberty on Tuesday night and hung on for a 39-38 win.
The Trojan boys held on to a nine-point halftime lead to win 76-70.
The Jaguars won in the girls game after the Trojans had cut a 10-point lead down to one in the final minute.
North Pike didn’t help itself out, missing free throws and easy shots including layups in the second half, while Amite County was right there waiting for the rebound.
“It seemed like every rebound, they got,” North Pike head coach Lance Golmon said. “They deserved to win it. We won it on the scoreboard, but they won it on the floor.
“They did all the little things.”
The Trojans kept themselves in the game, thanks in part to a 40-23 rebounding edge and the easy putbacks it afforded.
Amite County first cut the lead down to two in the third quarter on a Tydeshaia Pool putback and tied it with 45 seconds left in the third on Cikia Patterson’s two free throws.
U’leisha Smith, playing well on her birthday, scored the first six points of the fourth quarter to put North Pike back up four. Smith also scored the first nine points of the game for the Jaguars on three 3-pointers. She finished with 22 points.
The Trojans didn’t get the lead back down to one until nine seconds were left in the game. After Tempest May missed the back end from the charity stripe, Sabrina Crosby put back a missed shot to make it 39-38.
After a timeout, the Trojans forced a jump ball with one second left. The possession arrow pointed Amite County’s way, but the inbound pass was tipped away by the Jaguar defense to preserve the win.
“We had called for a foul, but we got the jump,” Amite County girls coach Robert Haney said. “I thought we had the perfect play drawn up, but we didn’t get the bounce of the ball.”
Patterson led the Trojans with 18 points and tallied 10 rebounds. Pool came off the bench and scored eight pointsand grabbed 12 boards.
Brittany Patterson was North Pike’s other player in double figures as she netted 11.
AMITE COUNTY 76, NORTH PIKE 70
In the boys game, North Pike’s Phillip McCray picked up his fourth foul of the game with 6:12 left in the second quarter.
At the time, North Pike was ahead 22-17, and the Amite County Trojans had been missing their outside shots in the first 10 minutes.
The Trojans gave in to the pleadings of head coach John Knight and focused on the inside game and driving what lanes the Jaguars were giving them. Amite County took a nine-point lead into the locker room at half.
The 14-point turnaround was all North Pike head coach Keith Russ needed to see.
“I know the basketball rules are to bring him in later on,” Russ said of McCray, “but the way we played without him we couldn’t afford it.”
McCray started the third quarter on the floor and didn’t leave the game until the final buzzer sounded, on his way to 32 points.
“I sure wish I would have gotten McCray out of the game,” Knight said. “I thought I had gotten him a couple times.”
The Jaguars weren’t able to capitalize on having McCray in the game, while four Trojans carried the scoring through the second half to secure their fifth win in District 7-3A.
Stephon Patterson scored 22 and pulled down 14 rebounds, while Justin Patterson added 19 points, Trabriel Johnson had 18 and Keith Hall had 14.
“Effort is what won us the game tonight,” Knight said. “In the third and fourth quarter, when they’d get a spark, we’d come right back.”
North Pike cut the lead to one possession four times in the second half, but each a mistake or a play by Amite County held them up.
“A loose ball, a rebound, a turnover or a missed boxout stopped us from tying it each time,” Russ said.
