Published: January 02, 2008 11:16 am            

Indians second, Panthers third in classic

TYLER — It was it was the best of endings and the worst of endings, depending on which team you wanted to win.

The Jacksonville Indians were on the bad end of things Saturday night, falling to No. 8-state ranked Whitehouse, 70-45 in the championship game at the Wagstaff Holiday Classic held on the campus of Tyler Junior College.

Bullard, on the other hand, made out like bandit and won 53-50 at the buzzer against Lindale and earned third place.

Whitehouse 70, Jacksonville 45

The District 12-4A rivals did not have the edge-of-your seat game the big crowd had hoped for the finals.

Instead it was the high octane attack of the taller Wildcats running out to a 14-5 lead after one period and never looking back against Jacksonville.

The Indians were never able to get rolling against the Wildcats’ zone defense. While Whitehouse was running and gunning, hitting most of their shots, the Indians were cold.

For the game, Jacksonville was 17 of 57 from the field, an icy 29 percent of all field goals.

That will get you beat against an average team, when you have a 29 percent shooting percentage against Whitehouse you go down hard.

“Whitehouse out-shot us, they out-rebounded us, they were the better team tonight. Give them the credit. You can’t win against anybody when you shoot like we did,” said Roynal Bridgeforth, JHS head boys basketball coach.

Against the Wildcats, Jacksonville could only manage 16 points in the first half.

The second half saw the Tribe make a run behind points from Kelvin Hall and a 3-pointer from Jay Jimenez to slice the Wildcat lead to 31-25 halfway through the third period.

Whitehouse got points from Jacob Holmen and Cade Clark to entend the lead to 45-29 as the fourth period began.

Jacksonville lost by the final of 70-45. The good news is the game does not count in the district standings.

Jacksonville is 13-5 overall, Whitehouse has a 15-1 record.

Score by quarters

Jacksonville -5-11-14-16-45

Whitehouse-14-13-18-25-70

Jacksonville scorers- Dowindle Hamilton, 12; Jay Jimenez, 10; Jeremy Chappelle, 6; Donovan Bridgeforth, 5; Demarcus Session, 5; Kelvin Hall, 5; Jacolby Scott, 2.

Bullard 53, Lindale 50

Lance Anding scored 18 points, but it was his fifth 3-pointer which had the crowd buzzing.

Lindale was at the free throw line with 2.7 seconds left. The Eagles cooly sank shots from the charity stripe to tie the game at 50. The fans were settling in for an overtime period until Anding took over.

“He just did what I said to do,” Ryan Tomlin, Bullard head basketball coach said with a laugh. “Lance did all you can do with that much time left.”

What Anding did was win the game. Bullard threw the ball in bounds, Anding, the point guard, was racing the clock and took one step over the mid court stripe and launched a prayer of a shot, that was answered.

Anding’s long range bomb popped the twine net some 40-plus feet away for a 3-pointer as the final horn sounded. Anding took a leap of joy and turned as his teammates mobbed him on the court. Bullard, now 13-5, took the win while the Eagles walked away in disbelief.

“It was a such a good game. I hate to see it end on a wild shot like that,” Tomlin admitted. “But if one of the two teams has to hit a shot to win it, I am glad it was us. Lindale played hard, they’re good.”

Score by quarters

Bullard-10-13-15-16-53

Lindale-12-12-13-13-50

Bullard scorers- Lance Anding, 18; Brandon Beavers, 14; Josiah Rosebury, 4; Charlie Moore, 8; Austin Camp, 3; Daniel Howard, Brandon Davis, Nick Rumbelow, 2 each.

        

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