Panthers dump South Pike in Division 6-4A Tournament

Published 6:00 am Wednesday, February 14, 2001

/ TERRY – The Division 6-4A Tournament tipped off Tuesdayafternoon at Terry High School. The Brookhaven boys and McCombgirls were the defending tournament champions, and both teams arelooking for a return trip to the South state playoffs.

/ The Brookhaven boys, seeded No. 4, got a game-high 18 pointsfrom senior guard Matt Fitzsimmons and senior center Corey Bryantadded 17, to power the Panthers to a 62-54 win over the No. 5 SouthPike Eagles.

/ In first round girls action, the No. 5 seed South Pike LadyEagles upset No. 4 McComb 67-59 and No. 6 seed Lawrence Countyeliminated No. 3 seed Terry 41-40. In boys play, No. 3 seed CrystalSprings knocked off No. 6 Terry 49-38.

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/ Due to a ruling by the Mississippi High School ActivitiesAssociation, only 2 games are on tap for today. At 6:30 p.m., theSouth Pike girls face the No. 1 seed Brookhaven Lady Panthers. ThePanthers meet No. 1 seed Lawrence County at 8.

/ On Thursday, the No. 2 seed Crystal Springs girls meetLawrence County at 6:30., followed by the No 2. seed McComb boysand Crystal Springs at 8.

Brookhaven 62, South Pike 54

/The Panthers (25-8) picked up a crucial win, despite gettingoff to a slow start. Brookhaven, coached by Preston Wilson andassistant Dan Presley, got the right combination of inside play,outside shooting and defensive stoppages to advance to thesemifinals.

/ “This was a big win for us,” said Wilson following the game.”Fitzsimmons’ shooting and Bryant’s play on the inside were keysfor us.” Bryant scored 8 of those points in the third period as thePanthers reestablished control of the game.

/ South Pike (16-13), coached by Joe Leavy, grabbed an early17-14 lead at the end of the first quarter. Senior guard CavadasNunnery scored 6 points in the period as the Eagles used a pressingdefense of their own to take advantage of several Panthermiscues.

/ Fitzsimmons dialed long distance twice (2 treys) to keepBrookhaven within striking distance.

/ Brookhaven used a balanced scoring attack to claim a slim27-25 lead at the intermission. The stifling Panther defense wasable to shut down Nunnery for the remainder of the game. Nunnery,the Eagles’ leading scorer at 17.9 points per game, was held toonly 11 points and was in foul trouble the entire night.

/ “Our defense did a good job in shutting down Nunnery,” addedWilson.

/ Bryant went on the offensive in the third, at one pointscoring 6 consecutive points. The Panther would take a 7-point,43-36 advantage into the final stanza.

/ South Pike cut its deficit to 4 points in the period onseveral occasions. Brookhaven, with timely and preciseball-handling, was able to withstand the defensive surge by theEagles. The Panthers also used an 8-for-9 effort from the charitystripe in the final 8 minutes.

/ “We were able to handle their defense,” Wilson said. “Konrad(Smith) did a good job of handling the ball for the time that hewas in the game.”

/ Cedric Abron paced South Pike with 15 points.