A late 12-1 Keith run helped the third-ranked Bears survive pesky Southside, who refused to go away Friday night.

Keith (7-4) led the entire way, but couldn’t shake the Panthers until the final few minutes in the 60-40 victory.

“Any time it is Keith and Southside playing, I don’t care if it’s marbles, you’ve got to play until the final horn sounds,” Keith head coach Tommy Tisdale said.

Southside cut the Bears’ lead to 44-37 with 7:51 to play, but Keith responded in a big way. Jaequan Simmons hit a reverse layup and got fouled to up the Bears’ advantage to 46-34. Southside (2-7) scored five of the next seven points in the game to pull within 48-39 with 6:23 left to play, but Keith answered again.

President Hasberry hit a three-pointer with 5:19 left to play, igniting a Bears’ run that put the game out of reach.

“He came through with it and he got emotional behind it,” Tisdale said. “It sparked his play. He played big within that two or three minutes and stepped his play up. It was huge for him and his confidence and I’m glad he made it.”

Jimmie Powell hit a layup with 4:53 left to play and Kent James and John Pettway followed with scores to push the lead.

“They never quit throughout the entire game. They never quit,” Southside head coach Cedric Brown said. “That’s what I asked of them. We are looking for our edge right now.”

Keith led 30-16 in the second quarter and appeared ready to pull away, but Southside pulled within 32-23 at the break. The Bears again threatened to run away again in the third quarter, but the Panthers again cut their deficit to nine at the end of the period.

Pettway scored 20 points to lead the Bears and Simmons added 12.

Keith will host R.C. Hatch Tuesday, while Southside will play at Montevallo Saturday.

 

Keith 41, Southside 14 (Girls)

Three nights after scoring 98 points, Keith showed it can win when its opponent slows the pace too.

Southside tried to play the game at a snail’s pace offensively, but the sixth ranked Lady Bears (7-3) weren’t fazed. Keith used efficient offensive possessions to pull away for a 41-14 win.

“They played pretty well slowing the pace down in the first half, but we made a lot of mistakes ourselves offensively,” Keith head coach Cecil Williams said. “…We can score a lot of different ways and play a lot of different ways.”

The victory also meant a three win week for the Bears, who defeated Ellwood Christian 98-5 Tuesday and won a top-10 showdown against area rival Akron Thursday. Williams said that Friday’s showing in a road environment against a county rival — especially playing back-to-back nights — showed the toughness of his Lady Bears squad.

“Playing back to back games and them having to run hard and play hard, I think that kind of played into us playing slow,” Williams said.

Keith was held to just 14 points in the opening half, but still led by eight at the break. In the second half, the Lady Bears found something breathing room, as Harriet Winchester scored 11 of her 17 points. The Panthers (2-7) plans to slow the tempo went by the wayside when Winchester, Zykia Pettway and S. Moore took control of the game in the second half

“We did a great job of controlling the game in the first half and that’s exactly what we set out to do,” Southside coach Jason Bothwell said. ”We know this is a team that likes to run and get the ball on outlet passes on the fastbreak. We thought if we could slow them down we had a good chance of coming out with the results that we wanted.”

Southside continues to be offensively challenged, as the Panthers followed a two-point opening quarter with four points each in the second, third and fourth.

“In that third quarter, it really got away,” Bothwell said. “We got really anxious and we tried to overplay and make things happen before they were supposed to.”

Calvondrea Blackmon led the Lady Panthers with six points.