By By Austin Bishop/The Meridian Star
Jan. 17, 2001
RAYMOND Everybody loves Raymond, especially Lamar School sharp-shooter Dusty Jones.
The 6-foot-4 senior knocked down seven three-pointers on the way to a 31-point night on Tuesday, but it wasn't enough to lead his Raiders to a key division win over Central Hinds Academy.
The homestanding Cougars held off a late charge by Lamar to take the 67-62 win and take a firm grip on second place in Division 3-AAA.
In the girls game, the Lady Cougars took a 43-29 win over Lamar to move to 15-10 overall and 3-1 in the league. It set up a first-place showdown between CHS and Copiah Friday night for the top spot on the girls side of the division ledger.
The Lamar boys actually led 18-10 at the end of the first quarter before Justin Holley got hot for Central Hinds in the second quarter and hit on five straight three-point attempts.
The Cougars took a 37-34 lead at the half and Lamar was able to stay close in the early stages of the third quarter before the home squad stretched it out to 57-49 at the end of three quarters of play.
The Raiders chipped it to 60-57 on a pair of free throws by Jared McKee with 3:35 to go in the game and cut it to 61-60 on a three-pointer by Jones with 1:27 to play in the game.
The Raiders held Holley to just four points in the second half, but the damage had already been done.
McKee scored 16 points and had a team-high nine rebounds. Sam Eakes pulled down eight rebounds and dished out five assists.
The Raiders, now 6-16 overall and 2-3 in league play, travel to Yazoo City on Friday night to take on league-leading Manchester Academy.
Lamar will likely be the third seed in the Division 3-AAA Tournament it is hosting and should face the CHA Cougars in the first round in a re-match of Tuesday's game. The Raiders beat Central Hinds at Lamar earlier this season.
CHA Girls 43, Lamar 29: The Lady Cougars outscored Lamar 12-7 in the third quarter to stretch a six-point halftime lead to 34-23 with just eight minutes to play in the game.
Alisa Devey led the Lady Cougars with 11 points in the game.
Myleia Shirley and Libby Huff scored eight each for Lamar, while Erin Ready chipped in with six for the 3-20 Lady Raiders.