Tigers upset Hillcrest
Published 12:00 am Saturday, December 3, 2005
The Greenville Tigers found themselves down as much as 18 points to Hillcrest-Evergreen in the second half and could not buy a basket.
But the Tigers didn't just roll over and let the visiting Jaguars cruise to their third win a row.
Greenville managed held Hillcrest without a basket in the final six minutes of the game and outscored the Jaguars 24-5 to pull off the upset with a 58-52 come from behind victory.
“I knew we were missing our shots, but I thought at some point that they would be dropping,” Tigers coach Victor Smith said. “Our guys kept their composure and pulled this one out.”
Darrell Carter led the Tiger rally by scoring eight of his nine points in the final 3:06. Carter tied the game with 3:06 on a three-point play.
Carter then hit a short jumper with two minutes to play to give Greenville (3-2) its first lead of the game. That's all the Tigers needed to hand Hillcrest its first loss of the year.
“I thought that we relaxed and got careless with the ball when we got that big lead,” Jaguars coach Tommy Dukes said. “What we've learned from this is that when we have a team like Greenville down as much as they were, we've have to put them away.”
There were a number of times when teammates of All-State forward Chris Hines' attempted to set up alley-oop dunk opportunities that blew up in their face. Hines led all scorers with 27 points.
Hillcrest (2-1) jumped out to a 29-16 lead by intermission and continued to pour it on in the third period with Hines pitching in eight of his 27 points. The Jaguars closed out the quarter on three straight Hines baskets to take a 43-29 lead into the final eight minutes.
And that's when things went downhill for Hillcrest.
Not only did the Jaguars struggle to protect the ball, they also were not as effective from the free throw line. The Jaguars were 9-of-19 from the stripe, while the Tigers were 13-of-19.
Isiah Mack led Greenville with 17 points.
The Greenville girls easily improved to 4-2 on the year by running past the Lady Jaguars, 74-57.
Katoria McDonald and Kendra Mitchell combined for 48 points to lead the Tigers to the win.
Greenville jumped out to a 42-25 lead by intermission and cruised the rest of the way.
McDonald led the Lady Tigers in scoring with 28, while Mitchell had 20. Mardredia Thomas also had 11 for Greenville.
Brittany Smith led Hillcrest with 20.