Boys Advance To Regional Finals 2/26/09

By Clint Cox
Four Jackson County Boy’s Basketball teams made it to the FHSAA playoffs and with round two completed on Tuesday night, three of them remain in the hunt to make a trip to Lakeland.
In Class 1A the Graceville Tigers opened up with a 63-50 win over Laurel Hill. With that win the Tigers moved on to round two as they played host to Paxton on Tuesday night. Graceville led by 9 points at the half and then went on to upset the Bobcats 56-46. Paxton had entered the ball game with a 25-4 record and were considered by many folks a good bet to make it to Lakeland. With the win over Paxton Graceville will travel on Saturday to Gainesville to take on The Rock (23-4). They beat FAMU 63-52 to advance to the Regional Finals.
Moving up to Class 2A the Cottondale Hornets played host to Freeport and won 59-38. With that win the Hornets hosted Baker in round two action on Tuesday night and pulled out a thrilling 72-70 triple overtime win. Baker entered the game with a 24-3 record but quickly realized they were in a slugfest. In a game that saw the lead swing back and forth, both squads played valiantly. Cottondale had a last second shot to win the game in regulation but could not convert, ending regulation with the game tied at 52-52. Nothing changed during the next two overtimes as each team took leads, only to see the other team comeback. Baker had a last second chance to end the game in the first overtime but failed. In the second overtime Cottondale held a two point lead only to see Baker grab a missed shot at the buzzer and put it back in to tie the game at 66-66. In the third overtime Baker took a four point lead but the Hornets came to tie the game at 70-70 on a bucket by Marcus Humose. Dominique Webb’s free throw with 9 seconds to play gave the Hornets a 72-70 and the Hornet defense came up with a last second steal to seal the victory. Cottondale improved to 19-10 and now will travel to Eastpoint on Saturday to take on Franklin County. The Seahawks, 25-5, beat Maclay to advance to the finals.
The Marianna Bulldogs are the county representative for Class 3A and the Bulldogs opened up with a 55-32 win over South Walton last Thursday night. The Seahawks were 19-8 entering the contest and hung with the Bulldogs early on, leading 9-7 at the end of the first quarter. Midway through the second quarter the Seahawks still maintained a 2 point lead at 17-15. From there however the Bulldogs caught fire and shot the Seahawks down. Marianna reeled off 10 unanswered points and went on a 30-5 run through the second and third quarters. R.J. Bowers led the team with 14 points while Kruize Pinkins added 11 and C.J. Blount added 10. The Bulldogs advanced to round two on Tuesday night and hosted Pensacola Catholic. In that contest Marianna manhandled the visiting Crusaders en route to a 64-35 victory. With that win the Bulldogs improved to 20-7 on the season and now hit the road for a Saturday Regional Final matchup with Ribault (Jacksonville).
Also in Class 1A the Malone Tigers entered the playoffs as the District Two runner up and had to travel to Paxton. In a game that went right down to the wire, Malone fell 49-46 to the Bobcats. Malone took it to the Bobcats and led 15-13 at the end of the first quarter. They trailed by one point at the half and were tied with less than two minutes to play in the game. But in the final two minutes Paxton hit a three pointer to take a four point lead and then held on for the 3 point win. Malone finished the season 15-10 and were led by T.J.Smith with 12 points and Mike Peak with 10.