% pvt oosommes SPORTS & RECREATION = Red Devils dethroned in Hitchcock Classic Bronson’s Eagles take third BY NEAL FISHER Sports WRITER They came, they saw, they rallied, and they took ‘the lead several times at the Hitchcock’s Tournament held at Santa Fe High School as Williston, Chiefland and Bronson represented Levy County. In the end though, the authority with which the three schools have played at the tournament during its ten- year run, was put on hold for at least this year as all three teams were eliminated from title possibility by the end of the second day. 1 “J was hoping for good crowds, we got that and I was hoping for good games and we got that,” Santa Fe. head coach and tournament organizer, Scott McDaniel said after the first day. “I hope the games will be exciting all the way down to the finish.” _ Bronson placed the highest among the Levy County trio of schools finishing making it to the third place game. Williston added a fifth place to their list of ~ accomplishments as _ they compiled a 2-1 record. First Round Action - Bronson 49 ‘Union County 45 The first game of the afternoon set the pace for the rest of the contests as Bronson prevailed by a 49-45 score over Union County. In a defensive rough and tumble production, the Eagles received four. free:.throws -with 3.8 seconds left. They made all four free throws to. ‘ take the lead and chilled the - aspirations of a Union County ‘victory. Jeremy Mayes was fouled driving to the basket and then Columbia’s head coach received a_ technical foul. Mayes found the net on both of his free throws and Bobby Collins put the game out of reach as he made the two technical shots to squeeze out the 49-45 victory. Terrance Dukes scored a game-high 16 points for the . Eagles (5-5). Union County, (5-4), was led by Chris Ederfield and Ted Young. They scored 12 and 10 points, respectively. Young entered the game as Union County’s leading scorer averaging over 20 points per game. Holding him to only 10 points was also a key to the victory. Union County 11-15-06- 13---45 Bronson 09-15-09- 16---49 Statistics: Bronson: Dukes-15, Thomas-8, Rivers-8, Mayes- 7, Collins-5, King-4, Barber- 5 Palatka 66 Williston 58 Coming into this year’s tournament as the team with the bullseye on their chest by virtue of claiming the championship last year, the Red Devils were eliminated from the possibility of being added to the list of repeat winners early. © A combination of their own faults and Palatka’s eagerness to use them to maximize their ‘talents and athleticism destined the defending champions to a first round defeat. Inaseesaw contest, the Red Devils cobbled together a 6- 0 run at the end of the third quarter of found themselves holding a 42-37 edge. Despite Palatka’s intense and persevering play, they maintained that lead over the hard charging Panthers for most of the final period, but Palatka continued to steadily whittle the lead away. “We have to understand, we are no longer the hunters,” assistant coach Curtis Stacy said. “We are now the hunted. We have gained respect. Everybody gets ready to play us. And we have to be ready to play every night.» 9) “We. didn’t Boucenteate like we needed to in practice. That is both the coaches’ and players’ fault. We played well, but not for the full game and those small moments of lapses cost us the game.” The Panthers eventually took the lead in the closing minutes. Jiwan James, who finished with a team-high 26 points, hit a pair of free throws as Williston reclaimed the lead at 55-54 with 2:45 . left in the game. - But the Panthers then took ‘the lead on a lay-up as their point man drove through the lane and dished the ball into the post. They then closed out the game with a 12-3 run.. Their downfall was free’ throw shooting. The Red Devils made only six of 18. attempts, while Palatka canned 18 of 21. “We need to learn to close Journal photo by Neal Fisher AFTER GAINING tournament expereince in the Hitchcock’s tounament, Isaac Floyd was one of a trio of freshmen who wil be counted on this week- end at Vanguard. Curtis Stacy said. Journal photo by Neal Fisher AFTER PLAYING the host school tight in its first game, Chiefland slipped and slided against Williston’s high-powered transition game. assistant coach “We had them up by ten. Even though they are a talented team like us with athletes, we had the chance to do it, because they made some mistakes and we scored off of them using our transition game. They have the kind of athletes that if we don’t put them away when we have the opportunity they will come back.” “Missing all those free throws in the final period was why they got back in and then we let them run and penetrate at.our end of the court after teams out,” we had the ball and scoring - opportunities. Our goal is to win the district and make a run deep into the playoffs. Palatka is the type of team we will face and need to beat. This should be a Wakeup call.” Stacy estimated the Red Devils gave up 10-14 points because Palatka was able to penetrate from the top of the paint following Williston’s failure to get back on defense after they had possession of the ball. Williston came close to forcing someone else other Herman McRae on _ the Panthers’ to beat them, but in the end his tenacious scoring was too much as he dropped 26 points on the Red Devils’ defense. The game © highlighted itself with six ties and 12 lead changes. The Red Devils record fell to 6-3. Williston .12-13-17-16--- 58 Palatka 16-08-15-27--- 66 Statistics: Williston: J. James-26, Kapree-6, = C. James-6, Hopkins-5, K. Coleman-4, Brown-3, Timmons-3, Floyd- 3, Foxworth-2. Santa Fe 82 Chiefland 57 With the return of Jarius Wimberly and Stephen Davis, Chiefland looked much better and played its most complete ° game to date this year. The Indians also got a _ boost from the absence of Santa Fe’s leading scorer Chanci Miller (23.5 points per game) and starter Stephen Lott for violating team rules. However, the end result was the same for the Indians who fell for the eighth consecutive time. But until the last ten minutes, the game’s outcome was in doubt as Chiefland stayed within a run of tying the game. They momentarily fell behind by as many as 17 points in the first, but cut the score to nine at halftime and to 39-37 with 2:33 left in the third quarter. However, keyed by full court pressure defense and half court trap, which eliminated the space the Indians needed to dribble the ball or make passes, the Raiders closed out the period with an 11-1 run. They then ran the Indians . into a slew of turnovers in the final stanza as Santa Fe outscored Chiefland bya 32+ 19 count to:secure ‘a berth in the semifinal round. Lester Jackson led Chiefland with a game-high 20 points. “We played them tough -and gave them a game until the last ten minutes,” head coach Dennis Webber said. “But we have trouble with the: playersbalancing themselves correctly in order to make the space we need to dribble the ball and pass. Good coaching picks-it up and that is what they did in the last ten minutes. “We got caught on the’ sidelines and against the time line and we couldn’t move back to the center of the court. There was no spacing for us to do that. Then our rotation was not good when we tried to get back on defense. We gave up around 15 turnovers, which is a good improvement for us, but at least half of them were in the last ten minutes.” Greg Milliken and Steven Shipwash each scored 20 © points for. Santa Fe (5-3), Chiefland 04-17-17-17--- 55 Santa Fe 17-13-20-32--- 82 Statistics: Chiefland: L. Jackson- 20, Sheffield-13, Henry-8, Sprawling-6, Donald-3, M. Jackson-3, Limburch-2. | Second Day Action Winner’s Bracket. Columbia 77 Bronson 32 After slowing down Union County’s offense in the first game, Bronson took on the state power with little success. The Tigers, ranked eighth in Class 5A, advanced to the semifinals of the tournament by downing Newberry by a final tally of 69-55. ‘In order to counteract Columbia’s height and strength advantage the Eagles would have had to play a perfect game. They did not. Columbia jumped out to 5-0 and 11-3 leads before ending the quarter with a 17-point bulge. Columbia’s - and more athletic, quicker experienced _ players continued to steal and ran the Eagles into submission, literally and figuratively. “We did not compete as well as we could have, but it wouldn’t have changed the outcome,” head coach Kelly Beckham said. “We weren’t contesting any shots and when a team shoots long and medium range like they do, the smaller squad needs to have some kind of distraction to slow them down. “The difference between last night and tonight was simply they were a more talented team and played like it. But after playing them, even as big as the margin of the loss was, we shouldn’t be intimidated and be more comfortable against the other teams on our schedule.” Bronson 07-12-04-09--- 32 Columbia 24-21-14-14--- 73 Statistics: Bronson: Dukes-10, Barber-8, King-4, Rivers-4, Collins-3, Mayes-2, Mercer- I, Consolation Bracket .. Williston. 70 Chiefland 28 The: cross county rivals laced up their sneakers to play t each other for the second time in three weeks. This time they met with the backdrop of the Red Devils dealing ® with the disappointment and licking their wounds from a first round loss, while looking to strengthen those very same issues which cost them in the opening game still in the hopes of preparing. for a long playoff run. The return of. Jairus Wimberly and Steven Davis made a world of difference for the Indians in their first round game. And the Indians entered the consolation game with that noteworthy difference in mind as well as a team whose evolution was continuing with certain objectives after playing the home team tight for 22 minutes. The Indians kept it close throughout the opening quarter as the score was a close 11-6 after the first eight minutes. However, the Indians’ turnovers, speed, quickness and ability to run offensively and defensively for four quarters overcame them. — The. Red Devils scored the first eight points of the quarter and then added six more tallies after the Indians put the ball in the basket. They then finished out the half by forcing the Indians into four consecutive turnovers. They scored off all of them and the score read 34-15 at halftime. “We had a great’ first quarter,” Webber said. “Our goal was to hold them’ to 15 points and we did ‘that, but then their speed, size and quickness devoured us. When we turned the ball over a couple of times we broke down fundamentally. “Anytime a team turns the ball over more than 15 times in a game, it lowers their chances. of winning to less than 30 percent.” The Indians had 28 turnovers to only five assists. Chiefland 06-09-09- 04-- -28 Williston — 11-23-26-10° --70 ; z Statistics: Chiefland: | Wimberly- 9, L. Jackson-4, Sprawling- 4, Donald-3, M. Jackson-3, Dials-2, Galpin-2, Davis-1.