Photo: Gadsden City’s Darien Hollis goes up for a basket as Huffman’s Travarus Carroll looks on during the Titans’ 69-62 defeat in the Class 7A Northeast Regional Basketball Tournament semifinals on Thursday, Feb. 15, at Jacksonville State. (Gary Wells)
By Mike Goodson/Sports Correspondent
The Gadsden City High boys basketball team made its annual trip to Pete Matthews Coliseum and the Northeast Regional Basketball Tournament at Jacksonville State to take on the Huffman Vikings on Thursday, Feb. 15.
The game appeared to be a classic David vs. Goliath match-up, with the Vikings bringing in an impressive 24-7 record against the Titans with their 14-12 record. Gadsden City (14-13) eventually fell by the score of 69-62.
With GCHS bringing a 42-28 lead out of halftime, the third quarter saw Huffman (25-7) hitting its outside shots and grabbing offensive rebounds.
The Vikings outscored Gadsden City in the third quarter by a 21-6 margin to take a 49-48 lead into the final eight minutes of play.
The fourth quarter saw the Titan woes continue, as Huffman began to pull away over the final minute. The game was actually tied at 60-60 with 2:45 remaining, but A 9-2 Viking run during the last minute was the final margin of victory.
Gadsden City head coach Reginald Huff was proud of the way his team fought.
“Huffman is a quick team, and we just ran into a brick wall in the third quarter and could not recover.”
The first half of this game would prove to be as wild as the war between the Hebrews and Philistines so many years ago.
Gadsden City opened with a run and gun offense and jumped out to an early 5-4 lead. When the Titans could not push the ball up court, their three-point shot attempts started falling, and Gadsden City raced out to a 22-10 first quarter lead.
The Titans continued to pester the Vikings throughout the second quarter, forcing turnover after turnover with their pressure defense. Corlyn Pearson had 12 points in the first half and Kameron Burnett added eight as GCHS held an impressive 42-28 lead at the half.
Pearson finished with 17 points, followed by Burnett with 10. Jaylen Cole added nine points, while Darien Hollis, MarDavus Bothwell and D.J. Huff, Jr., with eight each.
Burnett grabbed seven rebounds, while Cole and Huff both pulled down four.
Huffman was paced by Michael Lockhart with 20 points, Eddie Smith with 19 and Jeremiah Williams with 12.
“It was a beautiful game, and both teams fought hard,” said Huff. “We played a tough schedule and emerged as area champions.”