Demopolis falls to Central in Area 7 tourney

YORK – Central-Tuscaloosa proved adept enough with its jumpers to force Demopolis out of its defensive plan Tuesday night en route to a 69-57 victory in the first round of the Class 5A, Area 7 tournament.

“If we stick with the game plan, everything works out a little better. We got out of it. They kind of threw us off. They hit a lot of shots they’re normally not hitting. That’s the first thing their coach told me. He said, ‘We finally hit some shots today.’ We had a good plan for them, doubling down on (Central-Tuscaloosa center Ky’Andre Jackson). (Jackson) didn’t really do anything, but they hit shots from the outside and kind of threw us off,” Demopolis coach Ashley Allen said. “It’s hard. We tried to go man-to-man. We went man-to-man after they hit about three or four. They got past us. We’re not really a good man-to-man team. We pride ourselves on our zone defense. I feel like we’re built more for the zone. Basically, they just hit shots and it’s hard to stop it.”

Demopolis held its own in the first half, trailing 34-32 at intermission. The Tigers ended the first quarter on a 7-0 run to hold a 17-12 lead after the game’s first eight minutes. Central’s Jason Robinson opened the second quarter with a 7-0 run of his own to put the Falcons on top 19-17. The lead ballooned to 26-21 before Nelson Haskin and Taylor Herelle connected on a pair of layups to cut it to 26-25 with 3:26 to play before half. That marked the last time the Tigers would be within a point.

“We have to execute on the offensive end. If we don’t execute on the offensive end, we’re in trouble,” Allen said of a Tiger offense that went stagnant in the second half.

Central opened the lead to 47-40 in the third quarter. Derrick Birl fed Melvin Childers for a layup. Haskin then blocked a shot, grabbed the rebound and handed off to Malik Moore who went coast-to-coast for a layup to cut it to 47-44. The Falcons proceeded to end the quarter on a 6-0 run to move the lead to nine. Central led by as many as 14 in the fourth quarter.

Demopolis senior Tony Pittman hit the final shot of the Tigers’ season with 28 seconds remaining in the contest.

“Only two returning guys that played last year, so we had a whole new breed of guys that we had to bring in. I felt like we accomplished a lot this year,” Allen said of his team’s 2016-17 campaign. “We went through a lot, a lot of adversities nobody knows about. But we fought hard. I brought some young guys up. They got a chance to get a little bit of experience. So we should come out next year ready.”

Jalen Richey and Jhalen Caddell each had 14 points for Central. Kemondray Taylor scored 11 while Robinson had nine. Jackson finished with eight points and six rebounds.

Shakari Williams paced Demopolis with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Childers added 12 points and four assists. Moore finished with 11 points. Haskin had six points and 14 rebounds.

The Tigers finish at 10-12. Central moves on to play in the Area 7 championship Thursday at Sumter-Central.