Sonny’s Tip Off Tournament Kicks Off Basketball Season

By Clint Cox

Three of Jackson County’s varsity boy’s basketball squads took to the floor at Marianna High School last weekend for the Sonny’s Tip Off Classic. Cottondale and Malone joined the host team Marianna in lifting the lid on the 2009-10 basketball season in action on Thursday and Saturday night. See Ryan Mahoney’s article on this page for the Malone Tigers results.

The Cottondale Hornets took on the Maclay Mauraders on Thursday night and fell 43-37. Maclay took the early lead and never relinquished it, leading by 6 points at the end of the first and second quarters. Cottondale stayed close but could not overtake the Mauraders. At the end of the third quarter the Hornets trailed 30-25. Cottondale was led by Marcus Humose with 20 points and Cody Saye with 10 points. On Saturday night the Hornets squared off against the Tiger Sharks of Port St. Joe. Cottondale got balanced scoring in the first quarter but trailed 14-9 going into the second quarter. The Tiger Sharks expanded their lead to 11 points by the end of the first half. Humose hit a jumper to start the second half to cut the lead to 34-20. Drew Bellamy then grabbed back to back rebounds that he put back in for baskets to get the Hornets to within 12 points at 36-24. Port St. Joe held a 46-32 lead going into the final quarter and then the Tiger Sharks got red hot from the outside. Two minutes into the fourth quarter Port St. Joe had seen their lead swell to 55-35. From there they went on to q 70-46 win over the Hornets. Humose again led in scoring with 18. Bellamy added 8 and Saye chipped in 6 points.

The Marianna Bulldogs played the night cap on Thursday and faced off against Port St. Joe. The Bulldogs jumped out to an early 13-8 first quarter lead as Qua Royster, Skyler Gause and Kruize Pinkins led the way in scoring. But the Tiger Sharks battled back to take a four point lead at the half with a 30-26 score. The see saw affair continued into the third quarter as Marianna reclaimed the lead by the quarter’s end. Trailing 46-43 Port St. Joe caught fire in the final quarter as they outscored the Bulldogs 23-9. When the final horn sounded the Tiger Sharks had rallied for a 66-55 win over the Bulldogs. Pinkins led the way with 17 points and Royster was also in double figures with 10 points.

On Saturday night Marianna played host to the Blue Devils of Holmes County and posted a 65-37 win. Marianna got out of the gates quickly against the Blue Devils and took a 12-3 lead. They held that same 9 point margin when the first quarter came to an end with the Bulldogs leading 19-10. The Bulldogs poured it on in the second quarter scoring 8 unanswered points to take a 27-10 lead. When the first half ended Marianna’s lead had swelled to 35-13. The second half was more of the same as the Bulldogs emptied the bench and went on to post a 28 point victory.

Marianna was led in scoring by Pinkins with 14 points and Kendall Leeks with 12 points. Tre Jackson and Tre Long both chipped in 9 points. Both Marianna and Cottondale opened the regular season on Tuesday night as the Hornets played at Marianna. See page one of sports for the results of that game.