A month ago Malone went to Marianna after a hard fought game the night before against FAMU. Marianna dominated that contest in the ‘Dog House and Tiger fans have eagerly awaited the ‘Dogs coming to the house that Roy built. So on Tuesday night the newly refurbished Roy B. Beall Gymnasium played host to its’ first Marianna vs Malone boys basketball game and although Ole Roy has had a face lift, the game remains the same as this was another classic in this long rivalry.
The crowd was unusually quiet to start the game but quickly began to warm up when Marianna’s Kruize Pinkins rattled the rim with a dunk only to be followed by a thundering dunk on the other end by Malone’s Chai Baker. Malone jumped out to an early 7-2 lead but Marianna battled back and held a slim 13-12 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The second quarter started out as race horse basketball with both teams trading the lead back and forth. Jean Little’s 3 pointer gave Malone a 16-15 lead and then T.J. Smith’s 3 pointer put the Tigers up 19-15. Marianna’s Nehimiah Gilbert fired right back with a 3 pointer but Littles countered with a Tiger 3 pointer. This barrage on both sides went on for the rest of the second quarter and when the teams headed to the locker rooms at the half nothing had been settled as the score was tied 33-33.
Malone came out to start the second half with a 3 pointer from Ladarius McElroy and Baker to take a 39-36 lead. Baker added a dunk moments later to keep the Tigers up by 3. Marianna tied the game up at 41-41 and the teams again traded baskets for the remainder of the quarter. A 3 point shot at the buzzer by Tre Jackson gave the Bulldogs a narrow 48-47 lead after three quarters.
Malone surged ahead to begin the final quarter as Maciel Clemmons, Ty Baker put the Tigers up 54-50 with just over five minutes to play. That is when the Tigers appeared to begin running low on fuel. Over the next 2 ½ minutes Marianna outscored the Tigers
8-4 to tie the game up at 58-58 with 2 ½ minutes remaining. That is when Malone ran completely out of gas. The Tigers were scoreless for the remainder of the game while Marianna got baskets from Pinkins, Jackson, and R.J. Bowers to take a 9 point lead. Tre Long closed the game out at the buzzer with a slam dunk to make the final 69-58 in Marianna’s favor.
Pinkins led all scorers with 25 points while Jackson and Long added 12 each for Marianna. Malone got balanced scoring as McElroy led with 13, Littles with 12, Smith with 11 and Chai Baker with 10.
Malone was coming off a 72-63 win over Graceville on Monday night. Malone led 13-10 at the end of one quarter and then took a 31-20 lead at the half. The third quarter saw hot shooting from both squads as Malone barely outscored Graceville 21-19. But the Tigers still held a 52-39 lead and that was enough to hang on for a 9 point victory.
In JV action Marianna posted a 43-26 win over the Malone JV. Qua Royster led the pups with 16 points and Emanuel Batson added 13. Chris Murff led Malone with 13 points.
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