Eagles get second late-second win in a row
Published 1:36 am Wednesday, January 21, 2009
By By Adam Robinson – Sports Editor
Tra Dixon may have finished with only four points in the game for the Eagles Friday night against UMS-Wright in B team action, but his final two points of the night were the biggest of the whole game.
Down 32-29 with 25 seconds left to play in the game, Donovan Millican picked up a steal for the W.S. Neal Eagles and passed to T.J. Davis to cut the UMS-Wright Bulldogs lead to 32-31 with 12 seconds left to play.
On the in-bound play, a travel call against UMS gave the ball back to the Eagles where Dixon connected for a basket for the Eagles and a foul with four seconds left in the game to give W.S. Neal their first lead of the game at 33-32 since 4:49 in the first quarter.
Dixon missed his free throw, but UMS did not get a final shot as W.S. Neal won 33-32.
The win improved the Eagles to 10-4 overall.
Davis led W.S. Neal with 10 points and was followed by Colby McCorvey with seven points.
Monterrius Culliver added six points in the win and Dixon and Ashton Elliott both had four points. DeAndre McCaster added two points for the Eagles.
W.S. Neal trailed the Bulldogs 12-4 at the end of the first quarter, but cut the lead to 14-10 with a 6-2 scoring advantage in the second quarter.
In the third quarter, W.S. Neal cut the lead to three points, 23-20, with a 10-9 scoring advantage in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, W.S. Neal took the win by outscoring UMS-Wright 13-9 to claim the one-point win.
It was the second game in a row that W.S. Neal has won in the final seconds as the Eagles defeated T.R. Miller by one-point last week in Brewton.
W.S. Neal claimed an early 2-0 lead against the Bulldogs, but after taking the early lead, fell to a 12-0 run to UMS to fall behind 12-2 with 44 seconds left in the quarter.
W.S. Neal added a late basket in the quarter to trail by 12 at the end of the first quarter.
In the second quarter, W.S. Neal continued on their run and used a 6-0 as they outscored the Bulldogs 6-2 in the quarter to close within four points.
W.S. Neal continued on the run in the third quarter and made it a 10-0 run to tie the game at 14-14 with 5:02 left in the quarter.
In the quarter, both teams kept the score close until the final minute of the quarter when UMS held a four-point lead with 2:38 left to play.
Culliver connected for two free throws to cut the lead to 22-20, but a late Bulldog free throw gave UMS a 23-20 lead heading into the final quarter of play.
In the fourth quarter, UMS built a five-point lead early in the quarter, but the Eagles closed in late to tie the game and win it in the final seconds to pick up their second straight win after a three-game losing streak.