Special to the Times-Journal

ORRVILLE &8212; The Keith High School Bears waited until the fourth quarter to surge by the Wilcox Central Jaguars and beat them, 71-43.

The final score was not indicative of how the game was played the first 24 minutes.

But it was Keith&8217;s second win over Wilcox this season.

Going into the fourth quarter, the Jaguars held a 40-39 lead, though their bigs, Marcus Benjamin and LaVaughn Nicholson, each had four fouls.

The Bears scored nine straight points to go up by eight. Benjamin picked up his fifth foul in the stretch.

Keith went on to outscore Wilcox 32-3 in the final quarter. They were lead by Derrick James who netted 13 points in the quarter.

“This is a rivalry game for us,” said Bears coach Joseph Pettway.

“Fortunately we came out on top in both meetings this season. Our kids played hard and rebounded tonight.

Keith knocked down three triples in the first quarter to go on top 15-6.

The Jaguars, who rely on outside shooting, couldn&8217;t find the bottom of the net.

Wilcox got as close as two points on a fast break lay up from Deidrick Irby.

But a three-point play by James would give Kieth a seven-point advantage only to be followed by back-to-back triples by the Jaguars. The half time score found Keith up 27-24.

The Bears remained on top until Kendrick Atwood three-pointer gave Wilcox its first lead of the game with 3:32 left in the third quarter.

Jaguars, whose shots seem to be falling, held a one-point lead after three-quarters of play.

The bottom fell out in the fourth for the Jaguars, as they never got anything going and the Bears were already in the double bonus.

“I think our guys played hard for three quarters,” said Mark Dukes, Wilcox Central head coach.

“The official in my opinion made some awful calls during the game. They took our big men out of the game early. We played against eight people all night.”

“I think those officials of the worse officials association in the state and their association need to be banded from calling games,” said Dukes.

James led all scorers with 21 points. Anthony Collins added 18 points and seven rebounds.

Gerald Matthews contributed 12 points.

Delvin Coleman topped Wilcox with 12 points off the bench, including four triples. Irby netted 11 points.