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SECTION B
ForsythSports
Sunday, January 29,2012
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Jared Putnam Forsyth County News
Lambert’s Danny Edgeworth puts up a shot
over Creekview’s Austin Kent on Thursday at
the Lambert gymnasium.
Heartbreakers
for the Homs
Lambert squads beaten by
Grizzlies in final seconds
By Phil Ervin
phil.ervin@forsythnews.com
It was over.
Finally, Lambert had vanquished Creekview.
Finally, the Longhorns had produced a stretch of
wins late in the Region 7-AAAA race worthy of a
force to he reckoned with.
Wrong.
Grizzlies guard Duncan Jones launched a last-sec¬
ond 3-pointer as the buzzer in Lambert's gymnasi¬
um sounded. The line-drive shot rattled through,
and Creekview's players mobbed their star senior,
celebrating a 57-56 victory that kept them in con¬
tention for a top region seed.
Longhorns guard Danny Edgeworth had missed
two consecutive point-blank shots inside the final
9.5 seconds with his team ahead by two. Jones
snared the rebound on the second one, raced the
other way, paused at half court to glance up at the
clock and fired from the right wing.
More than 15 minutes after the horrific conclu¬
sion for Lambert, center Colin Perzella still couldn't
believe it.
“That wasn't even a buzzer beater,” he said. “That
was a miracle.”
So ended the Longhorns' latest frustration. After
knocking off previously undefeated Woodland
(Bartow) Saturday, they entered Thursday with a
chance to topple a second region top-three opponent
in the same week.
See LAMBERT 12B
BASKETBALL
No. 4 South
Lady War Eagles fall to
Chattahoochee in OT
By Jared Putnam
jputnam@forsythnews.com
Through more than 28
1/2 minutes Friday,
South Forsyth played
Chattahoochee to a stale¬
mate at the Eagles' Nest.
Then the Cougars
reminded everyone why
they arc the No. 4-ranked
team in the state.
Chattahoochee held
South without another
point after a Mark
McCorkle 3-pointer tied
the game with 3:27
remaining, pulling away
for a 52-46 win that was
the team's 10th straight.
“[Chattahoochee] went
to a 1-3-1 on defense and
we didn't respond that
well to it,” South coach
Kevin Dankosky said.
“Even though this was
a loss, I think we proved
that we can play against a
lot of teams in this
Sports Editor Jared Putnam can he reached at sports@forsythnews.com or (770) 887-3126 ext. 513.
BASKETBALL
Bulldogs sweep
Johns Creek
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Autumn Vetter Forsyth County News
Forsyth Central’s Drew Kane puts up a shot between a pair of Johns
Creek players on Friday at the D.B. Carroll Complex.
region.
The Cougars played
without 6-foot-7 forward
Jaron Blossomgame.
Dankosky said
Blossomgame, a senior
committed to Clemson, is
serving a team imposed
five-game suspension.
Trey Archambeau and
Markus Terry led the
Cougars in his absence,
tallying 16 points
apiece.
“We played them
really well when
[Blossomgame] was in
t h e game a t
Chattahoochee (a 63-50
loss on Jan. 6),”
Dankosky said.
“I think we surprised
them a little bit and
proved that the last game
wasn’t a fluke.”
South (7-14 overall, 2-9
Region 7-AAAA) could
have folded much earlier
in the game, when the
Cougars (18-3, 11-0)
opened the second quarter
with 10 unanswered
points and took an 18-9
lead.
Instead, the War Eagles
closed the period on a 7-2
run and went into half¬
time on an emotional
high after senior forward
Nick Graf dropped in a
put-back at the buzzer,
cutting the gap to 26-20.
The momentum carried
over into the second half,
as South dominated the
majority of the third quar¬
ter with a 15-2 run. The
scoring spree was punctu¬
ated by an alley-oop pass
from point guard
Geronimo Cruz to for¬
ward Douglass Cotter,
who caught the ball in the
air near the basket and
dropped it in to push the
lead to 37-31.
Cotter scored eight of
his team-high 14 points in
the period.
South still led by six
points, 39-33, when
Dankosky pulled all three
of his primary scorers —
Cotter, Graf (12 points)
and McCorkle (12) — off
the lloor at the same time
with just under a minute
and-a-half remaining in
the period. The trio
accounted for all but
eight of South’s points on
the night.
Chattahoochee scored
the last four points of the
period without them on
the floor, and Dankosky
seemed to have regrets
about his decision to sub¬
stitute after the game.
“I substituted because I
knew I’d have to play my
guys the entire fourth
quarter ... so that cost us
four points there,” he said.
The Cougars opened
the fourth quarter on a
5-0 run and regained the
lead 42-39.
With South trailing
46-43, McCorkle
rebounded his own miss
and dribbled back out to
the perimeter, where he
hit a 3-pointer from the
left comer to tie the game
46-46. The score held
until the 2:18 mark, when
See SOUTH 13B
Fishier,
Custer
tally 35
points
By Phil Ervin
phil.ervin@forsythnews.com
Johns Creek had erased
Forsyth Central's double
digit, third-quarter advan¬
tage, and (he Bulldogs
needed a wake-up call.
After Gladiators small
forward Adam Theisen
knocked down his third
trey of the game.
Bulldogs coach Steve
Barnes brought his hands
together for a timeout less
than a minute into the
fourth quarter. “Focus,”
he instructed his players,
pivoting on one foot to
look each one in the eye.
“We just talked about
concentrating on the next
play,” Barnes said. “Not
thinking about outcome,
but the next play, trying
to get a stop and then exe¬
cuting.”
The simple message hit
home in a 48-39 Central
win Friday at the D.B.
Carroll Complex.
T.J. Custer promptly
sunk a 3-pointer from the
left wing to reclaim the
advantage. The Bulldogs
(13-9, 6-6 Region
7-AAAA) drew the cur¬
tains with a 15-6 run to
remain in the middle of
the region pack.
Custer exploded in the
fourth for eight of his
game-best 18 points, tak¬
ing a full-court pass from
Colby Barnes in for a
See CENTRAL 12B
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Jared Putnam Forsyth County News
South Forsyth forward Nick Graf puts up a shot
against Chattahoochee on Friday at home.