Down to the wire
- Updated: February 11, 2020
Anniston gets the final basket in a back-and-forth game to edge county rival Jacksonville and make it to the Northeast Regional
By East Alabama Sports Today
ANNISTON – Antonio Kite hit a spectacular layup in the final minute to give Anniston the lead and the Bulldogs withstood a last-second flurry around the basket to turn away Jacksonville 47-45 to earn a spot in the Class 4A Northeast Regional.
The Bulldogs will play Good Hope in their regional opener Monday at 10:30 a.m.
Kite’s layup broke a tie and gave the Bulldogs a 47-45 lead. The Golden Eagles then worked it down to a tying shot. Kyrie Maynor missed a layup and Donavon McCain couldn’t get the put back to go down with about two seconds left.
Jacksonville fouled on the rebound with less than a second left. Kite missed the free throw, but the Golden Eagles could only muster a long heave at the buzzer.
“It was one of those games where every basket counted,” Anniston coach Torry Brown said. “They played a really good game and had a heck of a game plan. Our kids hung in there and hung in there and every time Jacksonville made a play our kids responded.
“We’ve been on the road for a while and winning with some kind of lopsided scores, so to win this kind of game at this juncture was really, really good and is going to help us as we move forward.”
Kite led Anniston with 18 points, four rebounds and three assists. Kwame Milton had 11 points and six boards. Mark Toyer had nine points, six rebounds and five assists.
McCain led Jacksonville with 19 points and went over 1,000 career points in the game; he finished his career with 1,012. He also grabbed nine rebounds. Maynor had 13 points.
“We finally shot the ball good and we defended well,” Jacksonville coach Cordell Hunt said. “I couldn’t be more proud of what the guys’ done; they just left it all on the court. It was a gutsy, gutsy performance by our guys, but, you know, Anniston was a possession or two better.”
NORTHEAST CLASS 4A
Anniston 47, Jacksonville 45
JACKSONVILLE – Donovan McCain 6-14 7-8 19, Kyrie Maynor 5-11 1-2 13, Q Long 3-7 1-3 8, Yessman Green 1-5 3-3 5, Ron Wiggins 0-3 0-0 0, John Broom 0-1 0-0 0, Caden Johnson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 15-41 12-16 45.
ANNISTON – Antonio Kite 7-15 2-4 18, Kwame Milton 4-10 2-2 11, Mark Toyer 4-8 0-0 9, Malcolm Harvey 3-3 0-0 6, Demar Stewart 1-6 0-0 3, A.J. Brown 0-0 0-0 0, Daveon Dukes 0-2 0-0 0, Taahj Jones 0 0-0 0. Totals 19-44 4-6 47.
Jacksonville 9 13 11 12 – 45
Anniston 14 6 15 12 – 47
3-point goals: Jacksonville 3-13 (Maynor 2-5, Long 1-4, Green 0-1, Wiggins 0-3); Anniston 5-24 (Kite 2-8, Milton 1-5, Toyer 1-4, Stewart 1-6, Dukes 0-1). Rebounds: Jacksonville 26 (McCain 9, Wiggins 6); Anniston 27 (Milton 6, Toyer 6, Harvey 6). Total fouls: Jacksonville 10, Anniston 14.
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