Defense, balanced scoring leads Keith past Selma

Published 1:01 am Saturday, December 5, 2015

Selma head coach Woodie Jackson talks to one of his players during Friday's 44-24 loss to Keith. --Daniel Evans

Selma head coach Woodie Jackson talks to one of his players during Friday’s 44-24 loss to Keith. –Daniel Evans

ORRVILLE — Keith head coach Tommy Tisdale prefers his teams to play a physical style of basketball where every player finds a way to get involved on the offensive end. It’s the traditional Bears’ way and it’s won a lot of basketball games in Orrville.

Even if he tried, he probably couldn’t have scripted a more Keith-like performance Friday night against Selma (5-3).

The Bears’ defense dominated the game in a 44-24 victory. Selma mustered only seven made field goals the entire night in a game that was not competitive from the opening tip.

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“We ripped the names off the front of the opponent’s jersey and we said we are going to do what we can do in our house,” Tisdale said. “From start to finish, it paid off.”

In the locker room following the game, Keith assistant coach Clifton Reeves told the team that they played “old school Keith basketball” on Friday. The Bears may want to keep turning back the clock.

Keith (6-2) led 25-11 at halftime after a big first half from Dalven Johnson, who scored nine of his 11 points in the first two quarters. The lead kept growing from there. Keith led by as many as 21 in the third quarter.

Seven Bears scored in all, led by Justyn Pettway who scored 13 points. It was a quiet night for John Pettway, who scorched the Saints for 36 points in the first matchup.

“Every time somebody asked me about Keith versus Selma it was coach ‘Do you expect John to score 36? Will he score 40?’” Tisdale said. “And I consistently say we’ve got other guys that can play. A lot of them are new, a lot of them we don’t know because we haven’t seen them.”

Pettway did get loose for a late dunk, but by that time the game was well in hand. After his big offensive performance the first time the teams played, slowing Pettway was presumably a coaching point for the Saints this week. They more than accomplished that, but it might have been the only thing that went their way Friday.

“Coming off a big win, we had two good days of practice but we just didn’t show up,” said Selma head coach Woodie Jackson.

Seven different Selma players scored in the game, led by Kiwansis Jones with six.

Selma’s scheduled home game Saturday against Anniston was moved to Jan. 30. The Saints will instead play their next game Tuesday at Chilton County.

Keith will play at Dallas County Tuesday night in another matchup of county rivals.

“Since the community and the [media] wanted the game to be a bigger game than what it was, I normally tell the guys to take every win up until 12 o’ clock and let’s focus on the next opponent,” Tisdale said. “I gave them until 12:15 tonight. I gave them 15 minutes more minutes to soak it up and then we’ll get back in the lab and start working on Tuesday night’s game.”

 

Keith 42, Selma 35 (Girls)

ORRVILLE — Stifling defense allowed Keith defeat Selma 42-35 Friday in a rematch from each team’s season opener.

The Saints won the first meeting and led at halftime Friday, but couldn’t get into any kind of offensive rhythm during the second half. Keith held Selma to just 12 points in the second half and only four made field goals.

“The main key was shutting down their shooter and taking her out of the offense,” said Keith head coach Cecil Williams. “When we got her out of the offense, they had to change it up to try to get it to somebody else.”

Williams was referring to Selma guard Jamya Smith, who made six 3-pointers in a game last year against the Bears. She was held to six points on Friday.

Keith led 13-8 at the end of the first quarter and Winchester opened the second quarter with a deep 3-pointer to stretch the lead even farther. She finished the night with 17 points, which led all scorers.

The rest of the first half was all Saints as Selma closed on a 13-2 run to take a three point lead into the break. Smith knocked down a three, Aaliyah Hatcher added five points and Areyana Williams knocked in a couple of shots to put Selma in the lead.

It didn’t last long.

Winchester opened the second half with a three to knot the score at 21. Back to back steals — one by Winchester and another by Shatavia Moore — pushed the advantage to four.

Meanwhile, Selma couldn’t get anything going.

Using a box -and -one on Smith, who hit six 3-pointers in a win over the Bears last year, kept the Saints’ offense in check.

Selma’s first basket of the second half didn’t come until only 2:04 was left in the third quarter.

The teams traded baskets to end the third period, which left Keith with a 28-25 lead.

In the fourth quarter, Keith scored the first seven points. Ambreya Snow took a steal the other way for a layup and Alyshia Boone blocked at shot at the end other end to keep the momentum rolling.

Selma didn’t score again until Jacquetta Dailey made a free throw with 4:20 left in the game. The Saints didn’t make a field goal until a Dailey layup with 3:39 left. That cut the lead to seven.

Selma got within 37-33 on a Dailey steal and layup but Moore and Snow knocked down free throws to put Keith back in command.

“We didn’t play with the determination to win,” said Selma head coach Anthony Harris. “We made a spurt in the second quarter but they came back and made a big run… We just didn’t have that passion tonight to win the ballgame and it showed.”