By By Austin Bishop/Special To The Star
Jan. 27, 2001
DEKALB It was senior night at Kemper Academy on Friday night, but it was a trio of Lamar School seniors who got a chance to celebrate following the boys game.
Dusty Jones scored 24 points and had 10 rebounds and Jared McKee scored 21 points and 12 boards to lead Lamar to the 68-54 win.
Sam Eakes scored all five of his points during a crucial span early in the fourth quarter to push Lamar on top 53-52 and give the Raiders the lead for good.
The Kemper Academy girls came-from-behind to beat Lamar 51-48.
In the boys game, the Rams knocked down seven straight three-pointers, including the first six of the third quarter to bounce back from a 29-21 deficit with less than a minute to play in the half to tie the game at 45-45 at the end of three quarters of play.
Kemper's Matthew Darnell hit a three-pointer and Ty Harbour followed with another basket to put the Rams up 50-45 with 5:40 left to play in the game.
Eakes then hit a bucket in the paint and Jones nailed a three-pointer to tie the game at 50-50 with 4:17 left in the game.
After a basket by Eddie Keeton put KA up 52-50, Eakes hit a free throw with 3:41 left to cut it to one. He missed the next free throw. But Jones controlled the rebound by tipping it to Eakes who knocked down the go ahead basket.
The Raiders also did a good job of hitting free throws down the stretch, after going just 2-for-9 in the first half.
While Kemper rode the hot hand from three-point range in the second half, it was the Raiders knocking down the long bombs in the first two quarters.
Justin Brewer, who finished with nine points on the night, was 3-for-4 in the first half, while Jones also hit three and Cooper Huff added one.
Another key to Lamar's win was taking care of the ball. The Raiders, who are averaging over 20 turnovers a game, made just four for the game.
Harbour led Kemper with 14 points, while Darnell scored nine and Wade Whitaker and Trent Myers picked up eight each.
The win pushes Lamar to 8-18 on the year, while Kemper is now 18-8.
Kemper Girls 41, Lamar 38: Alicia Dufour just took over in the paint for the Lady Rams down the stretch to power Kemper to the win.
Lamar, which came into the game with back-to-back wins, trailed 22-20 at the half, but led 31-28 after three quarters of play.
Kemper bounced back to regain the lead at 36-34. With the score 37-36 in favor of the Rams, Erin Reedy stuck in an offensive rebound to put the Lady Raiders up 38-37 with 1:32 left in the game.
A basket by Dufour 14 seconds later put the winners ahead for good in the game.
Dufour scored 12 points for Kemper, including six in the fourth quarter, while Jesse Harpole had 10 and Jen Myers added eight.
Myleia Shirley hit on four three-pointers to lead Lamar with 14 points, while Libby Huff scored 12.