2 for 18 shooting from 3-point range was Hastings nightmare
It was much different the second time around. According to Elsik’s Coach Martin, the pressure defense they used in the first meeting of district play against arch rival Hastings played right into the Bears hands which led up to easy baskets and to a 73-59 victory.
Hastings came into tonight’s contest needing a win as well in next week’s finally against Eisenhower to win the title outright. A stumble earlier in the week to Nimitz handed the Bears their second district lost.
Cortlandt Mills sank two free throws with less than a minute to go, to send the Rams to their second straight district title with a 62-56 defeat of friendly rival Alief Hastings on Friday night at Elsik High School.
A couple of quick treys from Greg King and Ke’Andre Jackson helped Elsik control the tempo with a 10-6 lead.
Hastings forced the Rams into turnovers but for the most part couldn’t turn them into points. Mean while the Rams took advantage of a cold shooting Bear team.
Elsik finished out the first quarter with three layups, two by Jarvis Nicks, one from Andre Mitchell and Jackson hit a trey at the buzzer to increase the lead to six, 17-11.
Pumped up with home court advantage, the Rams pushed their lead to ten when Mills banked home a basket and Da’shawn Robinson added a trey, 27-17 with 4:17 to go in the second quarter.
Hastings trailed by as many as 11 points before Christopher Waller connected on a mid range jump shot, cutting the lead to single digits, 32-23 heading to intermission.
The Bears stormed out of the locker room red hot as they went on a 6-0 run that started with a layup, an energetic dunk from Post player Ray Edwards to go along with Waller’s short jumper in the paint to closed the gap to 3 points, 32-29 with just under 7:00 minutes to go in the third quarter. But the Rams answered with an 8-0 run of their own. King stroke a 3-pointer from the right baseline as did Mills from the left and also added an outside shot to complete the run to equal their largest lead of the game at 40-29.
Though a cold shooting night kept them behind, Hasting was able to stay close by using their defense to capitalize on turnovers. Trailing 44-34 late in the third quarter, low post player Edwards grabbed a nice pass from Waller while putting the finishing touches on a turnaround jumper and executed a fast break layup to pull within six points, 44-38.
The horrific shooting night continued for the Bears in the fourth quarter as Cedarren Leonard missed back to back shots followed by a missed free throw by Edwards and Clinton Nwosuh’s close range miscue. The bears were 2 for 18 from 3-point range, clearly the difference in the outcome of the game.
Another 6-0 run provided a brief cushion in the Rams favor when King knocked down two free throws while Mills and Robinson converted layups to equal their largest lead once again, 51-39. The Bears answered with a couple of baskets before the Rams closed out the game.
