By By Marty Stamper/staff writer
Feb. 6, 2002
The Northeast Lauderdale Trojans knocked off Quitman 82-70 Tuesday night at Northeast to clinch the top seed in next week's Division 5-4A Tournament which will be played at Magee.
The Lady Trojans took a 50-47 win over Quitman in the girls' game.
Northeast's win in the boys' game left the Trojans, Quitman, and Northeast Jones tied with 5-1 records in Division 5-4A and 1-1 marks against each other in head-to-head competition. The Trojans knew coming in they had to beat Quitman by at least four points to win the division's regular season championship by point differential.
It's the first time in nearly 20 years for the Trojans to claim a regular season division title in boys' basketball, Northeast officials said following the win.
The Trojans are 7-1 at home this season.
Northeast led 19-13 after one quarter as Jamaal Martin drove the length of the floor in the last 4.4 seconds of the period for a buzzer-beating basket.
Quitman had its biggest lead of the night at 9-4 in the first quarter before the Trojans ended the period with a 15-4 run.
A 7-0 run midway through the second quarter gave Northeast a 31-22 advantage and the Trojans took their biggest lead of the first half into intermission as they were up by 17 points at 44-27 on Senior Night.
Northeast got 16 first-half points from Dekenno Winston, 11 from Martin, and nine from Kalani White.
The Trojans extended their lead to 20 points early in the third quarter before the Panthers rallied to end the period trailing by 14 (63-49) following a three-point play by Sidney King in the final minute of the quarter.
Quitman cut its deficit to eight points on three occasions during the first six minutes of the fourth quarter, but could get no closer.
Northeast finally put the Panthers away with a 6-0 run that began at the 1:47 mark.
Stephen Dyess began the run when he scored on a followup basket off his own miss. Winston hit a pair of free throws and added a basket for a 77-63 lead with only 1:16 to go.
The Trojans were 7-of-8 at the free-throw line over the final 4:09.
The Panthers had already shown they could hit from long range as they got three treys from Jason Pearson and two from Marcus McCormick.
Winston finished with a game-high 28 points to lead Northeast, 23-5. The Trojans also got 20 points from Martin, 17 from White, 10 from Dyess, and six from Marcus Betts.
Quitman, 10-13, got 21 points from McCormick, 15 from Pearson, 12 from Lorenzo White, eight from Grover Terrell, and six from Jonathan McCarty.
Northeast girls 50
Quitman 47
The Lady Trojans clinched second place in the Division 5-4A standings with their three-point win.
Northeast led 7-6 after one quarter and carried a 26-18 lead into halftime. The Lady Trojans led 33-30 in the third period before closing the quarter with an 8-0 run to go up 41-30 with eight minutes to go.
Northeast's Keshia Sanders stole a pass and went three quarters of the court for a layup to give the Lady Trojans a 50-42 lead with 28 seconds remaining and they held on for the win.
Northeast, 17-13 overall and 5-1 in 5-4A, got 17 points from Shaquita Bell, 13 from Crystal Hopson, nine from Sanders, six from Quin Jackson, and five from Shirlonda Jackson.
Quitman, 4-20 and 1-5, got 13 points from Kemonica McGee, 12 from Alicia Bonner, and nine from Shaquilla Mack.