by Frank A. Davis

COURTLAND
The Southampton County High School Indians saved their best for last in playing during a game with the Tigers of Sussex County High School. The fourth quarter proved to be their best quarter as they defeated the Tigers 54-48 in Southampton High School on Monday.

The game opened slowly, but the Tigers took the early lead. By the 2:53 mark in the first quarter, the Tigers were up 11-5 over the Indians. Shamon Reid-Wilkerson dropped in a 3-point basket to close the score, but the quarter ended with the Tigers up 13-8.

Both teams came alive in the second quarter and battled point-to-point with the lead seesawing back and forth. Dale Vick got the offense started for the Indians as he was fouled on a 3-point shot. Vick, hitting all three of the shots, closed the score to 11-15. On the Indians’ next offensive play, Vick was fouled while scoring a basket but missed the foul shot. This closed the score to 15-13 in favor of the Tigers. Getting the ball again, Reid-Wilkerson dropped in another 3-point basket to give the home team their first lead of the game with the score of 17-16. T. Jones for the Tigers hit a basket at the buzzer to allow them to take a 23-22 lead to the locker room. 

After the half, as both teams continued play, the score continued to seesaw in the opening minutes of play. But by the 2:24 mark in the quarter, the home team was ahead with a score of 31-25. The Tigers, not throwing in the towel, fought back, and at :17 tied the score at 31 all. The home team scored again to end the quarter up 33-31.

For the final quarter, several of the Indians stepped up their game in scoring. Reid-Wilkerson was successful on drives and hitting some foul shots at the line. He dropped in 7 points during the Indians’ final run. Elliott Cross and Javen Johnson also hit some critical shots that aided the team to have a 48-40 lead with 1:36 remaining in the game. The Indians outscored the Tigers 21-17 for this quarter.

“We came out a little slow tonight and didn’t play with a lot of energy to start the game and we were down at the halftime by 1 point. We came out in the second half with a lot of energy. My big men stepped up tonight to help us with the rebounding edge and we a hard fought game and we came out and got the win,” said Sharone Bailey, head coach of the Southampton Indians.

In scoring, the Indians had two players in double figures. Dale Vick led with 14 points and Shamon Reid-Wilkerson followed with 13 points.

For the Tigers, they were led by T. Jones with 19 points, followed by J. Murphy with 14 points.

The Southampton Indians will host Windsor Dukes today, Dec. 5, at 7 p.m. The boys junior varsity plays earlier at 5:30 p.m.

The Lady Indians will go to Windsor today as well. The girls junior varsity plays at 5:30 p.m.; the varsity at 7 p.m.