Perry tops Howard in a wild thriller
With intensity on the court and in the bleachers, Friday's game between Howard and Perry had all of the elements of a playoff atmosphere.
And true to form, the matchup went down to the closing seconds, as a long lob pass toward to basket by Howard was blocked away by Perry, enabling the Panthers to escape with a 66-64 victory and continue to remain tied for first place in the GHSA Region 2-AAAA with Upson-Lee.
Perry's Damion Bagley scored off an offensive rebound with 3.6 seconds to play for the go-ahead score, capping a night in which he hada game-high 25 points.
Howard falls to 9-12 overall and 5-5 in the region while Perry improves to 14-8 and 10-1.
THREE WHO MATTERED
Bagley: When the Panthers needed a spark, Bagley provided it. He scored nine points in a row early in the third quarter to take the Panthers from trailing by four at halftime to leading by seven.
Chris Clerkley: He helped offset Bagley with his play in the paint, preventing Howard from focusing solely on Bagley. Clerkley was a force to be reckoned with on the inside, scoring 16 points.
Jerry Stephens: Howard's guard kept the Huskies going on offense in game that was a back and forth contest for much of the second half. He scored 17 points and was also clutch from the free-throw line in the late stages, sinking a pair with 1:40 to go that gave Howard a 64-61 lead.
Chris Quainter: His size presented challenges for Perry close to the basket. He finished with 20 points. And while Perry slowed him down in the third quarter, he put the Huskies in position to win with a seven-point effort in the fourth quarter.
TURNING POINT
It wasn't known at the time, but Stephens' free throws with 1:40 to play ended up being the final Huskies points as the Panthers made just enough plays down the stretch to secure the win. With the Huskies' lead at one point after a pair of Jake Smith free throws, Howard missed out on a chance to advance the ball down the court and extend its lead when Stephens was forced out of bounds by the Panthers fullcourt press defense, turning the ball over. Following a missed layup by Jake Smith, Howard was unable to grab the rebound, and a scramble for the ball resulted in Perry's Jay Watkins drawing a foul and sinking a free throw to tie the game. Watkins missed the second shot, but Perry again secured the loose ball with 16 seconds to go. Bagley took full advantage, driving toward the basket for the game-winning shot.
OBSERVATION
All about the atmosphere: Casual observers would have easily mistook Friday night at Howard to a playoff game. The near-capacity crowd was vocal the entire night on both sides, creating an energy that both teams appeared to feed off of.
WORTH MENTIONING
Still leading: Perry's win keeps the Panthers atop of the region standings, tied with Upson-Lee. A coin flip to determine the region's top seed appears to be a strong possibility.
ALSO FRIDAY NIGHT
Howard's girls won a last-second thriller on a historic night. Erica Moore broke the program record for most career points, with her 21-point night, giving her 1,681 overall career points as Howard held on to win 48-45. Despite leading by seven points with 50 seconds to go, Howard (11-10, 4-6) narrowly escaped with the win. A 3-pointer by K.K. Smith, a Howard turnover on an inbounds pass and a quick 3-pointer by Asia Harrell cut the Huskies' lead to 46-45 with 6.7 seconds to play. Howard's Zoria Chatman made it a 48-45 Howard lead with a pair of free throws. Even after that, the Panthers (8-14, 4-7) had a chance to tie it, but a pair of 3-pointers by Harrell in the closing seconds misfired as Perry came up short of a stunning comeback. Smith's 13 points led Perry.
THEY SAID IT
Howard head coach Jay Lunce on Howard's late-season play: "It's finally starting to come around; the kids are starting to buy into the system. We have to play within what we want to do and play our style of play. We've got to finish games, basically."
Lunce on the game's atmosphere: "It was great, I love our fans and love our students. They're a big reason why we're able to make those runs, make those plays and keep the adrenaline going on our side.
Perry head coach Brett Hardy on the Panthers' late-game defense: "We needed a break and we got lucky a couple of times. Sometimes when you win games like that, you need to get lucky. Our guys did a great job getting a turnover. We knew if they got the ball down to their end, they'd be tough to defend."
Howard girls head coach Latavia Coleman on Perry: "They hit some big threes at the end. Luckily we were able to pull it out."
Perry girls head coach Reginald West on the loss: "I thought the kids in the last couple minutes came alive and hit some key shots. Looking back on it, we had some missed opportunities. We had a 10-point lead on them to start the game, and of course, they battled back."
WHAT'S NEXT?
Perry hosts Peach County on Saturday while Howard hosts Veterans on Tuesday.
This story was originally published January 29, 2016 at 11:57 PM with the headline "Perry tops Howard in a wild thriller ."