The only thing missing from the South Pike Eagles’ 109-61 victory over the Tylertown Chiefs in boys basketball action Friday night was the starter’s pistol.
The only thing that could slow the Eagles was the official’s whistle.
Three days before competing in the McComb High School holiday tournament on Monday, South Pike (8-2) had five players score in double figures and ran away with the victory at the Willie Earl Jones Coliseum.
It was the first time that a South Pike boys team had scored 100 points in a game since the Eagles’ 105-87 win over Amite County on Feb. 3.
Trevosity Ellzey led the way for the Eagles, with 13 of his 18 points coming in the first half as South Pike built a commanding 59-27 halftime advantage.
Point guard DeAngelo Coleman followed with 17 points, while Devon Malone chipped in 14 points. Trelyn Pounds and Dequarius Bullock added 13 and 10 points, respectively.
“Everything basically went our way tonight,” said South Pike head coach Joe Taylor, who frequently emptied his bench. Fourteen South Pike players tallied at least one point in the game.
“It was our best shooting game of the year,” Taylor added. “The whole deal was gearing up for the McComb tournament. I wanted to get our bench some work.”
The Eagles will face Denham Springs, La., in the first round of the McComb tournament at 2 p.m. Monday.
The game also marked the first time Tylertown had given up 100 points in a game in 12 years, according to second-year head coach Levern Lee. The Chiefs fell to 3-8 on the season.
“We played a pretty good basketball team,” said Lee, whose Chiefs open play in the McComb tournament at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday against North Pike. “This game was about two teams going after it. They just wanted it a lot more than we did.”
South Pike entered the fourth quarter with the game well in hand, 86-47.
Moments into the final period, post player Joshua Epps drained a 15-foot jumper from the right wing to make it 90-49.
Bullock scored seven of his 10 points in the final period. His two free throws made it 93-51 with 6:27 to play.
On the Eagles’ next possession, Bullock came from the right wing, drove the lane and hit a layup to make it 95-51.
Moments later, Bullock was fed the ball on the left wing. He then beat a defender and dunked over another for the Eagles’ 100th point of the night, sending the crowd into a frenzy.
“The intensity for this game was even better than against Amite County,” said Taylor, whose Eagles had beaten the Trojans three days earlier. “We shot the ball a lot better tonight.”
The ending was a microcosm of how the fast-paced game went for South Pike.
Laquandra Wesley drained a three-pointer from the left corner to ignite a 19-6 Eagles’ run capped by Coleman. His foul-line jumper and follow-up steal and driving layup gave the Eagles a 19-8 lead. South Pike led 27-14 after the first quarter.
Reginald Andrews tried to keep the Chiefs close. He hit the front end of two free throws, then hit a runner off the right wing to pull Tylertown to within 27-17.
But South Pike answered with a 16-2 run, capped when Devontee Cook grabbed an offensive rebound along the baseline and dropped in the putback as he was fouled. Cook added the free throw to cap the three-point play and extend the Eagles’ lead to 43-19.
Antone Badon led the Chiefs with 12 points. Andrews added 10.
The only negative for Taylor in the win was the inordinate amount of fouls called. The Eagles were whistled for 23 fouls, 13 of them in the second half and six of them the offensive variety.
“I can deal with fouls on defense,” Taylor said. “I can’t deal with the silly fouls. I have a problem with those.”
