Sumter sweeps Demopolis varsity squads in Area 7 tilts

Sumter 65, Demopolis 38

“All gas, no brake” adorned the front of Sumter-Central’s shooting shirts as they took to the floor for warmups in a highly anticipated Class 5A, Area 7 tilt with Demopolis Friday. When the ball tipped, Sumter lived up to its own frenetic billing en route to a 65-38 shellacking of the Tigers.

Sumter hung 10 points on the board before Demopolis got a three off the hand of Melvin Childers to attempt to stay the Jaguars. Unfazed and unflinching, Sumter continued to pour it on as it inflated the advantage to 17 points by halftime.

Demopolis connected on only five shots from the floor in the first half and shot a paltry 6 of 14 from the free throw line. Despite a strong start to the third quarter, virtually nothing improved for the Tigers in the second half.

Sumter used its pace and space offense to drive the lead into 20s before finally going up by 31 in the fourth quarter and triggering the running clock to mercifully shorten the game. Jacorey Turnipseed scored a game high 19 points to pace Sumter. Three other Jaguars finished in double figures as Desmond Ward had 15, Tyler Presswood finished with 13 and Greg Brunson scored 10.

Shakari Williams led Demopolis with 13 points.

The Tigers fall to 15-5 on the season. Sumter improves to 24-3.

Sumter 41, Demopolis 39

Jada Watkins rebounded a missed put back opportunity, set herself, took one power dribble and put the ball in for the go-ahead layup with 5.7 seconds to play Friday night. The Sumter forward’s calmness in the game’s biggest sequence proved enough to beat Demopolis and prevented a near collapse in the fourth quarter in which the Lady Jaguars blew an eight-point lead.

Demopolis whittled away at the Sumter advantage in the fourth quarter after trailing for the entirety of the contest. Freshman Shug Billingsley entered the game and dropped in a layup off a Shakesaney Bell pass to narrow the deficit to three. After a Sumter bucket, sophomore Dalaysia Benn sunk a pair of free throws to cut it to 39-36 with 41.7 seconds to the play.

Demopolis pulled the game even when Aniya Johnson knocked down a triple off a Bell bounce pass with 21 seconds remaining. Sumter missed a pair of open looks before Watkins seized control of the game.

The Lady Tigers would find one more look at the basket off a timeout with 4.4 seconds to play. The ill-fated shot would come nowhere close to the basket as Demopolis fell to 4-7 overall and 0-1 in Area 7 play. Sumter moves to 18-5 with the win.

Chardai Watkins led Sumter with 16 points and six rebounds. Jada Watkins finished with 13 points and seven rebounds. Shacorie Cockrell had 12 points for Demopolis. Johnson finished with 12 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Bell had 11 points, nine rebounds and four assists.