Sumter presses Demopolis into lopsided loss

Sumter Central turned to its press early and often Wednesday night en route to a 61-25 dispatching of Demopolis High School.

Sumter (16-2, 3-0) neutralized Demopolis big man Josh Moore by frustrating the Tiger backcourt, coming up with 24 steals on the night and holding DHS to seven points in the first half including just one point in the second quarter.

“That’s what we practiced all week. We knew that was coming. We practiced it all week and we didn’t execute. We did everything we were supposed to do in practicing the press break. I told them that if we got past that press break we were going to be fine,” Demopolis coach Ashley Allen said. “That’s what they want to do. That’s the type of ball they play. I knew we were going to have to slow them down. If we couldn’t slow them down, we weren’t going to have a chance.”

The Jaguars led 12-6 after one quarter but put together a 27-1 second quarter as part of a 39-3 run to end the first half.

J. Turnipseed led Sumter with 15 points and five steals while Quindarius Jackson added 10 points.

Moore had seven points and seven rebounds while Jay Craig finished with 11 rebounds.