Patriots top Tigers in holiday tourney finale

LINDEN — Demopolis (7-6) struggled to find any offense Friday as it fell to Linden (8-1) 62-47 in the finals of the Linden High School Christmas Tournament.

Just two weeks after the teams last met, Linden used a tenacious rebounding effort to help it hold Demopolis at bay, limiting the Tigers’ second-chance opportunities by snagging 41 rebounds in the contest as opposed to the 31 tallied by Demopolis.

The Patriots carried a 21-18 lead into the locker room at halftime before storming to a 21-14 third quarter run. The Pats hung 20 more on the board in the fourth to ice the win.

“We played a little better within ourselves,” Linden coach Andro Williams said. “We’ve got to get better at finishing.”

Demopolis trailed by nine for much of the fourth quarter before pulling the deficit to 46-41 with plenty of time remaining. The Tigers saw Tyler Perkins come up with a steal and force the ball down the court before dumping it off to Cortez Lewis under the basket.

As Lewis looked to go up for the lay-in, Imoras Agee flashed in from behind and jarred the ball loose, forcing Lewis into what the officials determined to be a travel violation. As Lewis to exception to the call, he drew a double technical foul call that gave Linden two shots and the ball, effectively putting Demopolis away.

Linden’s Kynard Craig drew Most Valuable Player honors in a game in which he scored 19 points, grabbed 13 rebounds and racked up three steals. He led a quartet of Patriots in double figures that also included 13 points from Imoras Agee, 12 points from Nicholas Rogers and 10 points and seven rebounds from Chris Rogers.

Kiante Jeffries led Demopolis in both scoring and rebounding with 10 points and seven boards. Tyler Perkins had eight points for the Tigers while Tripp Perry finished with six points and seven rebounds.

Agee and Jeffries each garnered All-Tournament honors for their efforts.