After doing much of their damage in the first half from the free-throw line, the North Pike Jaguars found running the court much more to their liking in the second half.
The Jaguars sank 16-of-21 free throws in the first half, then broke open a close game in their 81-68 victory over Alpha Christian of Hattiesburg on the second day of the South Pike Basketball Tournament on Tuesday.
“We played well offensively. We were aggressive. We took it to the basket,” North Pike head coach Keith Russ said.
That was evidenced by the Jaguars’ 24-point third quarter led by Nick Terrell. The sophomore shooting guard dished to Erik Allen for a bank-in, then drove the right baseline for a layup the extended North Pike’s lead to 48-33 with 5:55 left in the third period.
The Jaguars appeared to be in cruise mode after LaDerrick Turner’s running layup extended the lead to 57-40.
The Crusaders, however, crawled back into the game.
Trailing by 12 after the third period, Alpha Christian cut the margin to 72-65 on a steal and driving layup with 2:04 to play.
Terrell, however, fielded a pass from LaMichael Quin, then drove the lane for the layup while drawing the foul. Terrell hit the free throw to cap the three-point play and push the lead back to 79-65 with 43.7 seconds to play.
Terrell led all scorers with 27 points. Quin dropped in 18 points and Allen chipped in 16 points for the Jaguars.
