MBB: 'Cardiac' 'Riders knock off Diboll
baseline during Tuesday night's game in Roughrider Gymnasium.
(Photo by Ray Jackson)
CENTER, Tx -- For the second time in seven days, the Center Roughriders used a team effort and a never-say-die attitude to post a district win. After holding off Huntington last week, the 'Riders came from behind Tuesday night to claim a 59-57 win over Diboll Tuesday night in Roughrider Gymnasium.
After giving up a 9-2 run to start the game and trailing 17-8 after the first period, the Roughriders (7-15, 2-1 district) hustled their way back into the contest on timely baskets by Augustine Johnson and Johnny Sudds to close the gap to 28-25 at the end of the first half. They then outscored the 'Jacks 19-13 to take a 44-41 lead at the start of the final period.
Things started to get interesting after the two teams swapped the lead back and forth, with Diboll taking a 57-55 lead with less than a minute to play.
Tony McCollister drew a foul, and sank both ends of a 1-and-1 to knot the score at 57-57. After Darren Bolton snatched a Lumberjack pass, the 'Riders had a fast-break opportunity, outnumbering the defense 4-1. The 'Riders couldn't convert though, missing four consecutive shots from inside the lane. The ball eventually went out-of-bounds on Center, giving the Lumberjacks an inbounds pass with 24 seconds left.
The 'Riders 'manned up', forcing Diboll's Jay Lowe to step over the baseline as he caught the pass from guard Carlos Teal. That turned the ball over to Center, and Sudds found Darren Bolton at the top of key. Bolton knocked down a 15-foot jumper to give the 'Riders the lead with less than ten seconds remaining. As Diboll pushed the ball up the court, Sudds stole the ball to seal the win.
Center head coach Hiram Harrison was ecstatic over the outcome.
"I sure like coming out on this end of things," Harrison stated after the win. "This is what we have to do to get where we want to be. Our kids played great defense all night, and kept them from inbounding the ball there at the end. Then we moved the ball around until we got the shot we wanted.
"We still need to get better shooting free throws, but we made them when it counted."
The 'Riders improve to 7-15 with the win, but more importantly, they are 2-1 in District 18-3A, which is good enough to move Center into a three-way tie for third place, along with Hudson and Huntington.
In other results from Tuesday night, Huntington surprised Jasper, 61-56, in overtime, and Central popped Kirbyville, 47-37.
Jasper and Central are both tied for the league's top spot with identical 3-1 records. Kirbyville is 0-3 and Diboll sits at 0-4.
Center will have a huge matchup Friday when they host Jasper at 7:30 p.m. In other District 18-3A matchups, Central (3-1) will host Hudson (2-1) and Kirbyville (0-3) will visit Huntington (2-1).