The Graceville Tigers and Marianna Bulldogs captured their respective boy’s district tournament championships and advance to the FHSAA playoffs as the District Champs. Graceville will play host to Pensacola Christian on Thursday night while Marianna will host East Gadsden. The Marianna Bulldogs hosted the Class 3A District One tournament and entered as the number one seed having gone unbeaten in district play this season. The Bulldogs opened up the tournament with a 50-42 win over the Marlins of Arnold High School on Saturday night. Marianna led by 13 at the half and appeared to be on track for an easy victory. But Arnold fought back and got to within four points before the Bulldogs pulled away in the final five minutes for the 8 point victory. Kruize Pinkins and R.J. Bowers led the Bulldogs with 11 points each.
The win over the Marlins advanced Marianna to take on another Panama City school as they squared off against Bay High on Monday night for the championship. Bay kept things close for three quarters but in the end Marianna got a fourth quarter push and posted a 55-42 win for the Championship. Marianna led 15-9 at the end of the first quarter but saw that lead dwindle to 3 points at the end of the first half. Marianna was up 26-23 as the third quarter began and Bay played the Bulldogs even as both squads put up 15 points in the quarter. Marianna held a slim 41-38 lead going into the final quarter and that is when Bay must have felt that someone put a cover on their goal. The Bulldogs held the Tornadoes scoreless for the first six minutes of that fourth quarter and outscored Bay 14-4 to seal the win.
The Bulldogs were led by Pinkins with 14, Tre Jackson and R.J. Bowers each had 11 points and Kendall Leeks chipped in 10 points. With the win Marianna improved to 24-3 on the season.
The Graceville Tigers captured their district championship as they downed Blountstown on Saturday night for the title. Graceville advanced to the championship bout by defeating county rival Sneads 78-71 on Friday night. Cameron Dozier led the way with 27 points as Graceville led most of the night but still had to fight off a pesky bunch of Pirates who would not go quietly. Sneads took an early lead and led by one point at the end of the first quarter. Graceville took the lead in the second quarter and never relinquished it for the rest of the game. The Tigers held a 31-27 lead at the half
In the third quarter Graceville outscored the Pirates 24-20 as both squads shot the ball well. Graceville took a 55-47 lead into the fourth quarter but the Pirates quickly cut the lead back to five on a steal and lay up by Jeff Bell. Jamar White cut the Tiger lead down to 3 midway through the quarter with a bucket to make it a 62-59 game. But each time Sneads mounted a surge, Dozier seemed to answer for the Tigers. John Locke hit a shot to cut the Tiger lead back to 3 points with two minutes to play but Byron Lasiter grabbed a rebound and put it back in for Graceville to push their lead back to five. The closing moments saw Graceville hit enough free throws to keep the Pirates at bay and win the contest.
Kevin Potts hit 11 and C.J. Dozier added 10 for the Tigers. White led Sneads with 19 points, Josh Rogers added 16, Bell hit 14 and Jeff Davis rounded out the Pirates in double figures with 13.
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