By BY BRUCE HIXON – sports editor
Excel and J.U. Blacksher made their clash Saturday the boys championship game of the W.S. Neal Invitational, as each won their first two games of the tournament.
Excel downed Georgiana 56-38 Thursday and the host Blue Eagles 64-53 Friday. J.U. Blacksher edged W.S. Neal 52-50 Thursday and drilled Georgiana 64-42 Friday.
W.S. Neal and Georgiana met Saturday for the third place game in the tournament, as each lost its first two games.
Excel 64, W.S. Neal 53
W.S. Neal (0-11) took a 19-18 lead on Jimmy Wilson's fastbreak bucket 90 seconds into the second quarter, but the Panthers took the lead for good when they closed out the first half on an 11-3 run and a 29-22 lead.
That surge was part of a 28-9 run that carried well into the third quarter that saw Excel run its lead up to 46-28.
W.S. Neal had four players foul out and committed 27 fouls to just 10 for Excel. The Panthers had a 36-10 edge in free throw attempts and a 16-5 edge in made free throws.
Excel vs. W.S. Neal
Excel 18 11 17 18 - 64
W.S. Neal 13 9 9 22 - 53
EXCEL (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) D. Anderson 3-2-1-13; Brown 4-0-5-13; M. Anderson 2-2-2-12; Hollinger 4-0-4-12; Stuckey 2-0-2-6; Washington 3-0-0-6; Jaye 0-0-2-2 (Totals: 18-4-16-64)
W.S. NEAL (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Wilson 5-3-0-19; Payne 5-0-2-12; Elliott 2-2-0-10; Bradley 1-0-3-5; Mickens 1-1-0-5; Shell 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 15-6-5-53)
J.U. Blacksher 52, W.S. Neal 50
W.S. Neal opened its portion of the tournament Thursday with arguably its most frustrating loss of the season when it fell to the J.U. Blacksher Bulldogs 52-50.
J.U. Blacksher scored the game's first 10 points and led 12-2 after a quarter, but the Blue Eagles stormed back in the second quarter behind Jimmy Wilson's 12 points. The last three of Wilson's points in the quarter was a half-court bomb at the buzzer that gave W.S. Neal a 21-20 halftime lead.
W.S. Neal opened up a season-high 10-point lead in the third quarter and took a 31-21 lead on Javoni Mickens' three-pointer three minutes into the second half.
The Blue Eagles still led 37-32 through three quarters, but J.U. Blacksher came back and took a 40-38 lead with six minutes left on back-to-back three-pointers by Isaac Nichols.
W.S. Neal took one final lead when Wilson buried the fourth of his five three-pointers with 3:04 left to put the Blue Eagles up 45-44.
J.U. Blacksher took the lead for good with two minutes left when Tervois Graves scored after he got wide open underneath the J.U. Blacksher basket on an inbounds pass.
The Bulldogs extended that lead to 52-47, but Wilson gave W.S. Neal some life when he hit a three-pointer with 10 seconds left to cut the gap to 52-50.
J.U. Blacksher left the door open when it missed four free throws, two by Derrick Jenkins and two by Darrius Parker over the next five seconds.
W.S. Neal got a final chance with three seconds left, but turned the ball over before it could get a shot off.
W.S. Neal vs. J.U. Blacksher
JU Blacksher 12 8 12 20 - 52
W.S Neal 2 19 16 13 - 50
J.U. BLACKSHER (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Jenkins 3-1-4-13; McClain 4-0-2-10; Nichols 1-2-2-10; K. Graves 2-0-1-5; Ikner 0-1-1-4; Akins 1-0-1-3; Parker 0-0-3-3; Smith 1-0-0-2; T. Graves 1-0-0-2 (Totals: 13-4-14-52)
W.S. NEAL (2FG-3FG-FT-TP) Wilson 3-5-4-25; Payne 2-0-6-10; Peacock 2-0-1-5; Elliott 1-0-1-3; Mickens 0-1-0-3; Bradley 1-0-0-2; Shell 0-0-2-2 (Totals: 9-6-14-50)