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franklin county times

Cougars hand Knights loss

By Staff
IN THE MIDDLE
West Lauderdale's J. J. Huggins charges the paint as Newton County's Dominique Mapp strips the ball away.
PHOTO BY PAULA MERRITT / THE MERIDIAN STAR
By Marty Stamper/staff writer
Feb. 2, 2002
When the Newton County Cougars are hitting on all cylinders, they can be a pretty formidable foe on the basketball court.
Friday night at West Lauderdale, the Cougars got 21 points from center Tony Smith and nine 3-point baskets from his teammates in beating the Knights 85-72 in Division 5-3A action. The loss was only the second for the Knights on their homecourt this season.
The Lady Knights continued their winning ways as they were victorious for the 18th consecutive outing, beating Newton County 67-46.
In the boys' contest, West jumped out to an early 7-3 lead, but a 3-pointer from Newton County's Del Murrell ended the first quarter with a 19-18 Cougar advantage.
The Knights led 26-21 when Calvin Moore connected on his third 3-point bomb in the first half.
The Cougars trailed 30-26 when Mylan Anderson had to exit the game with three minutes left in the first half when he took an elbow to the mouth. He did not return.
Ricardo Alcanter and Al Willis hit 3-pointers to give Newton County a 32-30 lead with two minutes remaining in the first half.
The first half ended in a 36-36 draw. Moore led the Knights in the first half with 21 points. The Cougars kept pace thanks to six 3-pointers.
Alcanter hit two 3s early in the third period to give the Cougars a 44-41 lead.
The Knights led only once more in the contest when Karlos Lewis' steal and layup gave West a 49-48 lead with 3:12 left in the third quarter.
Smith put the Cougars up for good when he converted a pair of three-point plays in 13 seconds late in the third period. His second trifecta gave the Cougars a 54-49 lead with 2:31 showing and West got no closer than three points the rest of the contest.
The Cougars did a good job of working the clock in the fourth quarter.
Smith led six Cougars in double figures with 21 points. Alcanter hit four 3-pointers in tallying 17 points. Ken Windham scored 14, Willis had 12, Murrell 11, and Anderson 10.
Newton County improved to 13-8 overall and 6-4 in 5-3A. West dropped to 20-9 and 7-3.
Moore led the Knights with a game-high 27 points. Lewis tossed in 18 with Boo Ramsey adding 16. The Knights made eight 3-pointers.
West girls 67
Newton County 46
The Lady Knights carried a 36-20 lead into halftime, then scored 12 of the first 16 points of the second half to post a surprisingly easy win over the Lady Cougars, who saw their four-game win streak snapped.
West led 18-8 after one quarter behind 10 points from Kristina Gardner.
Gardner led West, 26-3 overall and atop 5-3A with a 9-1 league mark, with 16 points. J.J. Huggins scored 14, Shannon Lloyd had 12, Patty Monroe nine, and JaWanda Huggins six.
Newton County, 13-10 and 4-6, got 17 points from Dominique Mapp, 10 from Phyllis Cole, and nine from Yolanda Johnson.

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