Raiders use strong third quarter to beat Eagles

COLUMBIA – It wasn’t a perfect third quarter for Houston Academy Friday night against Providence Christian.

It nearly was, though.

The Raiders controlled all three phases of the game – offense, defense and rebounding – in the quarter to break away from the Eagles in taking a 57-44 win in the Class 2A, Area 3 Tournament at Houston County High School.

The host Lions, behind Ernest Tyson’s 41 points, dominated the second tournament game, overpowering Cottonwood 86-40.

Houston Academy (14-13) and Houston County (21-6) will meet in the tournament championship Monday night at 7 p.m. in Columbia. Both teams are guaranteed a sub-regional game next Friday.

“That was a big win for us,” said Houston Academy coach Ron Watson, whose club will play two teams with 21 or more wins. “That buys us two more games – two tough games. We will practice and see what we can do.”

The Raiders struggled early in Friday’s game and trailed most of the first half to a scrappy Eagle team. However, a 3-pointer by Blake Jordan after a steal by Thomas Bailey gave HA a 27-24 halftime advantage.

The Raiders quickly took control in the first two minutes of the third quarter, scoring eight straight – on a basket each from Richard Howell, Jordan and Gabe Sheffield and two free throws by Chris Johnson – to open up a 35-24 lead.

They maintained the momentum and eventually extended the margin to 15 (43-28) by the end of the third quarter.

“We talked at halftime about, ‘Let’s come out and make it physical and quick. Try to get up and down the floor,’” Watson said.

Offensively, Houston Academy, behind the up-tempo style, scored on five of its first seven opportunities and made 6-of-10 shots from the floor and 4-of-5 at the foul line in the period.

Defensively, the Raiders held Providence to just one field goal and four total points in the period, while forcing four turnovers. Perhaps just as important, they dominated the boards, 12-4.

Providence got a little offense going in the fourth quarter, but Houston Academy kept its efficient offensive pace and its rebounding prowess to keep the margin in double digits.

The Eagles, who finished the year 7-16, struggled offensively, making just 7-of-26 in the second half, including 1-of-13 in the third quarter. They finished at 32 percent on the night (16-of-50).

“We didn’t shoot the ball really well the whole game, but specifically the second half,” Providence Christian head coach Chris Fain said. “They were sagging their man (defense) a lot, so we had open jump shots and we were still able to the basket, but we just didn’t finish.

“That was the big part of the game – our lack of finishing.”

Houston Academy, conversely, made 13-of-21 in the last two quarters and earned four putbacks after half of the eight misses. For the game, the Raiders were 50 percent (22-of-44) from the floor and 62.5 at the foul line (10-of-16) with two misses coming in the last 25 seconds by youngsters.

“It is not complicated to figure out what happened,” Fain said. “One team made shots and one team didn’t. It was a three-point game at halftime and that extended it a 15-point game.”

Houston Academy, which won two of three games over PCS this year, used its overwhelming size, both in height and weight, to win the first game this year. They delivered a similar formula Friday, outrebounding the Eagles 37-21, including 21-8 in the second half.

“I thought we outrebounded them pretty well, especially in the third and fourth quarter and that was big for us,” Watson said.

“The thing that they really did well in the second half, especially in the third quarter, was rebound the ball,” Fain said. “They had a size advantage and they did a good job in the second half of using that size.”

Johnson led the Raiders with 20 points and 14 rebounds. Jordan had 14 points and seven rebounds.

“I thought Chris Johnson had a great game,” Watson said. “He seemed to step up anytime we needed a rebound or a basket.”

Providence was led by Justin Peak and Nathan Turner, who had 12 points each, and Kyle Eriksen, who had 11.

Houston County 86, Cottonwood 40: The Bears stayed close early behind 3-point shooting, but Tyson and the Lions wore them down and pulled away.

Cottonwood hit five 3-pointers in the first quarter and trailed just 22-17 to the top-seed Lions, but Houston County extended the lead to 14 at halftime (43-29) then scored 29 points in the third quarter before the Bears scored with 16 seconds left.

Tyson had a career night. He hit four 3-pointers in the first quarter on way to 23 first-half points then added 15 in the third quarter before scoring three in the final period in his 41-point effort.

Bobby Peterman added 10 points, Darrel Payne had nine and Ray’shon Kennedy eight.

Demarius Keys had 13 points, including a trio of 3-pointers, and Billy Lewis had 10 for Cottonwood (2-19).