ORRVILLE — The Keith Bears jumped out to a 14-point lead Friday night and held off a late Selma run for a 54-51 win.

Keith ‘s aggressive defense gave Selma fits all night and forced turnovers that gave the Bears scoring opportunities in transition. The Saints only scored 15 points in the second and third quarters combined, which allowed Keith to create a little distance on the scoreboard.

”That push we had in the third quarter probably opened it up a little bit,” Keith head coach Tommy Tisdale said. “We just had to hold on in the last two minutes to secure the win.”

Tisdale said at halftime, with his team leading 25-19, he challenged his players defensively.

“I said we are going to pick up full court, man-to-man that way when I found who scored, that’s who was coming out,” Tisdale said. “They answered that challenge.”

Maurice Crumpton helped spark the Bears’ third quarter run with two big layups while being fouled to stretch Keith’s lead to 36-24.

The lead reached 43-29 early in the third quarter after another Crumpton layup, but Selma started chipping away. The Saints eventually cut the lead to 51-47 with 47 seconds remaining on a layup by Juwan Watters, but Selma couldn’t get closer until a meaningless score as the final buzzer sounded helped the game reach its final score.

“They made us play a little faster than we wanted to,” Selma head coach Woodie Jackson said.

Anfernee Simmons led Keith with 12 points and John Pettway added 10. Maurice Crumpton and Walton Young had seven points each.

Kahmaul Jones had 15 points 8 rebounds to lead the Saints.

 

Selma 54, Keith 48 (Girls)

Keith nearly rallied for a miraculous comeback in the fourth quarter, but the Selma Lady Saints were able to hang on for a 54-48 victory Friday night at Keith High School.

The Bears’ Harriet Winchester picked up her fourth foul in the third quarter and sat down the remainder of the period. Selma took advantage of her absence in building a 21 point lead. Once Winchester returned, Keith narrowed the lead to 52-48 late but could not get any closer.

“We got the young lady [Winchester] in foul trouble and that helped us a lot,” Selma head coach Anthony Harris said. “They had to go with some of their young players and we took advantage.”

The Bears left a lot of points at the free throw line in an 11 of 31 effort.

“We made a lot of bad decisions and a lot of mistakes with the ball and had a lot of missed free throws,” Keith head coach Cecil Williams said. “You can’t win if you beat yourself with missing free throws.”

Winchester finished the game with 28 points to lead all scorers.