Buzzer-beater lifts Lions
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, December 6, 2006
The &8220;snake-bit&8221; Pelham Panthers put up a fight, but found no relief from the blues at Briarwood Christian School last Saturday night where they were downed on a last second shot from Wesley Lynch to make the final score 70-69 in favor of the Lions.
Pelham head coach Owen Butts said his team was &8220;just right there on the bubble.&8221; He said, &8220;We could go either way, and right now we&8217;re just losing close ones.&8221;
He said his team was &8220;just snake-bit right now.&8221;
The Briarwood Christian Lions have also had their share of heartache having come off a game they lost last Thursday at the buzzer.
&8220;We played at Chilton County … I had a shot open, and I hit back iron, and gosh I was devastated,&8221; Lynch said of his missed opportunity.
&8220;It feels so much better to come out here and hit the shot and then get the win,&8221; he said of the game winner.
Briarwood head coach Chris Laatsch also remembered being on the short end of things.
&8220;We lost at the buzzer Thursday night. So for our kids to be tough enough to hold on and hit big shot after big shot and get stops when they needed to was unbelievable. Our kids practice and work so hard they deserved a good win like this. So, I&8217;m real happy for them.&8221;
Austin Thames and Wesley Lynch scored 22 points each for the Lions in the win, and Carter Tanner pulled down seven boards.
But the top scorer of the night was Pelham&8217;s Steven Clark who hit for 44 points.
As of Saturday night the Panthers were 1-5 and the Lions were 4-2 on the season.
Through five games, Lynch leads the Lions with 107 points for an average of 21.4 points per game. He has also had 22 assists, 40 rebounds and 10 steals.
In other boys games:
Chilton County 81, Briarwood 79: The Lions were led in this Thursday night heartbreaker by Thames with 36 points, Lynch with 21.
Mountain Brook 48, Briarwood 38: In this contest played on Nov. 28, Thames led the Lions again with 14 points with Lynch adding 11.
Jackson-Olin 58, Thompson 41: The Warriors (6-1) were led in this losing effort last Friday by Gary Cunningham with 20 points and nine rebounds and Laderreous Kelley with 17 points and seven rebounds. Ryan Austin had 14 points for Jackson-Olin.
Oak Mountain 48, Thompson 38: On Nov. 28, the Warriors were led by Cunningham with 12 points and seven rebounds and Siddeeq Cooper with 10 points and 12 rebounds.
Through seven games, Cunningham leads all warriors with 99 points for an average of 14.1 points per game. He is followed by Kelley with 83 points and an average of 11.9 points per game and Dameion Bland with 75 points for an average of 10.7 points per game. Cunningham and Kelley have 47 and 33 rebounds respectively.
Cornerstone 72, East Memorial 58: The 1-2 Chargers were led in this contest last Saturday by Avery Alexander and Kirk Johnson with 14 each and Daniel Bulger with 10. The Chargers fell to Bessemer Academy 64-47 on Dec. 4 and Warrior 60-39 on Nov. 30.
Spain Park 73, Saks 39: The Jaguars (5-2) were led in this contest played Nov. 28 by Wheeler Flemming with 12 points and eight rebounds; William Green with 11 points and eight rebounds; Cameron Terry with 10 points and four rebounds.
Spain Park 68, Parkview (Ga.) 59: Six Jaguars hit for double digits in this contest played last Friday night including Jake Drum with 13, Flemming with 11, William Green, Josh Magnetite, Jay Prater and Cameron Terry with 10 points each.
Hewitt-Trussille 57, Spain Park 54: The Jags dropped this contest on Saturday to the 4-2 Huskies. Green had 13 points, Magette had 11, and Prater had 10.
Billingsley 40, Montevallo 42: The (0-2) Bulldogs were led by Kevin Reed with 14 points and Brando Lilly with 12.
Calera 89, Montevallo 45: The Dawgs were led by T.J. Cottingham with 19 points and Reed with 11.
Leeds 62, Indian Springs 28: Kennan Strange led Indian Springs with eight points.
Evangel Christian 57, Harvester (Ga.) 42: Evangel (3-0) was led by Paul Stockman with 13 points and 15 rebounds and Matt Ritchie with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
Hope Christian 75, Garywood Christian 49: Jarod Robertson had 13 points and six rebounds for Hope (5-1)