Sports

BUZZER-BEATER DOWNS DOLLARWAY

By Sean Saunders/OF THE COMMERCIAL STAFF
Tuesday, November 24, 2009 11:48 PM CST

If a team is given chance after chance to steal a win on the road, eventually said team will seize that opportunity and snag the victory.

Dollarway’s Tevin Tyson (middle) goes up for a shot between a pair of Bastrop, La., defenders at Dollarway Fieldhouse on Tuesday night. Bastrop used a last-second 3-pointer to win 48-47. PINE BLUFF COMMERCIAL/RALPH FITZGERALD.

The Bastrop, La., Rams missed three shots to either tie or take the lead inside the final two minutes, but Dollarway threw the ball away each time after grabbing the defensive rebound. But on Bastrop’s last possession, Adrian Witherspoon found Darren Anderson in the right corner open, and Anderson drained the 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Rams a 48-47 victory over the Cardinals in their season opener Tuesday at Dollarway Fieldhouse.

“I wanted to space out my shooters,” Bastrop coach David Patrick said. “I told them that they had been shooting it short all night. That kid is the quarterback on our football team, and he had just come off of a tough game Friday night. His legs were tired, but I implored him to not let the shot be short.”

The buzzer-beater capped off what was a furious rally for the Rams (2-0). Dollarway (0-1) held as much as nine-point lead in the fourth quarter before Bastrop went on an 8-0 run to get within one. The Cardinals hit a pair of buckets to regain the lead, but 25 turnovers, including 13 in the second half, proved to be too much to overcome.

“I’m not going to make any excuses. We had a chance to put the game away, but we threw the ball away three straight times when we had it,” Dollarway coach Ellis Berry said. “If we could have held onto it, they would have fouled us and we would’ve gone to the line to shoot free throws. But we threw the ball away. We also didn’t play any defense on that last shot.”

Dollarway started the game on a 9-0 run on three 3-pointers. But Bastrop proved it had staying power by responding with 12-1 run behind the strength of its three-quarter press.

“I was pleased with that,” Patrick said. “I kind of had some kids playing in different positions tonight, but that’s our bread and butter, that 2-2-1. We try to keep everything in front, and I was very pleased with that especially on the road.”

Dollarway came back with another run, 11-0, and led 24-19 at halftime. The Cardinals made five of their seven 3-pointers in the first half.

After Dollarway took a 29-23 lead in the third quarter on a Tevin Tyson 3, Bastrop went on a 7-0 run to take its first lead since the first quarter. But the Cardinals responded with a 13-3 spurt to match it biggest lead.

Tyson had a game-high 17 points, connecting on 4 of 7 3-pointers. But Berry said he was disappointed with his point guard’s turnovers to go along with only three assists.

“He hurt us on turnovers,” Berry said. “He turned the ball over a whole lot tonight, and that really hurt us. He’s got to protect the ball a lot better than he did. He shot the ball well, but he’s also got to protect that ball.”

Senior Jamarcus Davis scored 12 points on 3 of 5 3-pointers but was shut out in the second half.

“They shut him down because we got out of running our offense,” Berry said. “We stopped running our offense to get him open, and when we did get him open, we stopped getting the ball to him. We’ve got to be a team. We got away from playing team ball.”

Eight different players scored for Bastrop, displaying depth from the Rams. Donald Washington had 10 points to match Anderson’s 10, and Anderson scored seven in the final period.

Dollarway was able to stay in the lead for most of the game on hot shooting from the field. The Cardinals finished the game 17-of-31 from the field for 55 percent, including 7-of-11 in the first half.

But the turnovers made it to where Bastrop had 15 more field goal attempts.

Dollarway faces Camden Fairview on Tuesday in the first round of the El Dorado Tournament.

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