Lowndes wins in rematch against Thomasville
Published 5:30 pm Thursday, December 1, 2022
- Lowndes guard Kaci Demps (1) shoots a floater against Thomasville during the second half Tuesday.
VALDOSTA — In Tuesday night’s 50-47 victory, the Lowndes Vikings (5-2) swept the season series against the Thomasville Bulldogs (1-4) for the second year in a row.
In a foul-filled second half, neither team found much of a groove, and it came down to the final few plays to decide the winner. As usual, senior Demarcus Black was up to the challenge.
Black scored the last seven points for Lowndes in an attempt to fend off Thomasville’s comeback, led by senior forward AJ Dent, who was responsible for 12 of their fourth quarter points.
Thomasville came as close as 46-45 with a minute left in the fourth, with Dent finding teammates behind the 3-point line twice as well as converting a dunk. Black responded by playing patient in the back of Lowndes’ press, waiting and watching for the right moment. Once the front of the press forced the ball out Black intercepted the pass and took it home for the flush, extending the Lowndes lead to 48-45 with 30 seconds left.
“He’s a special kid man, just knows how to put the ball in the hole. I mean right there at the end how about that steal and dunk. I think that was the final piece that put the game away,” Lowndes head coach Reshon Benjamin said. “He played the gap, got his hand on it, stayed in bounds, and then attacked the basket and put it in and took the game home. He’s our leader, offensively he’s the one that gets us going…kudos to Demarcus Black.”
That dunk at the end of the game helped finish off a 19-point performance for Black, who also contributed two assists and three steals in the win.
Junior wing Ruben Compton also helped Lowndes to victory, hitting four of his eight 3-point attempts on the night including a bomb from near the midcourt logo in the second quarter. Two of his makes came early in the fourth quarter after Thomasville cut the Lowndes lead to two.
On a night where offense was hard to come by, particularly in the second half, Black and Compton’s production was crucial.
“You always want to find a way to gut out these ugly ones. It was ugly, but we still want to find a way to win,” Benjamin said. “Just like losing, winning becomes habitual. So when you find a way to win the tough ones, you just keep finding a way to do it.”
Sophomore guard Samuel Shoptaw finished with six points and two steals, junior guard Jeremiah Henderson finished with five points and four steals, and senior forward Landon New finished with eight points and five rebounds.
VIKETTES 64, LADY BULLDOGS 15
The Lowndes Vikettes (2-2) ended their 2-game skid with their 64-15 victory over the Thomasville Lady Bulldogs (2-2) on Tuesday night.
The rematch between teams played out similar to the first game in terms of margin of victory, but the Vikettes’ offense didn’t come as easily as before. In the first matchup they lived in transition, but to start out the game there weren’t as many opportunities.
There was a lot more half court offense, and the Vikettes worked the ball inside through their twin towers lineup with upperclassmen forwards Otaifo Esenabhalu and Kimora Wade.
Otaifo went out with a shoe issue early in the first, and Wade picked up the slack and scored seven of the 15 first quarter points, the Vikettes led 15-3 at the end of the quarter.
The second quarter is where the Vikettes got back to their scoring routes with transition offense and a lot of offensive rebounding.
The first few minutes of the second quarter Otaifo and Wade scored a few baskets down low, before sophomore guard Kaci Demps got the transition offense going by playing the gaps and finding teammates up the court for a layup.
The Vikettes led 40-6 at the half after scoring 25 points in the second quarter, and they didn’t look back from there.
Thomasville did slow down the offense and play slower and more methodically in the second half, but their most productive quarter was the third where they scored seven points, before scoring two in the fourth quarter.
Wade finished with a team-high 13 points, senior guard Faith Johnson finished with 12, and sophomore guard Aryanna Thomas finished with 11.
UP NEXT
Both Lowndes teams will travel to play the Brunswick Pirates Friday night. The girls play at 6 p.m. and the boys follow at 7:30 p.m.