Indians knock out Peabody
Published 10:19 am Tuesday, December 16, 2014
Washington-Marion finally stood up to the bully and escaped with a 68-67 nondistrict win over Peabody, which had beaten the Charging Indians in two previous games this year.
L’Marcus Walker made a layup with 11 seconds left to give W-M (8-2) the lead for good after the Charging Indians blew a 13-point fourth quarter advantage.
Christian Edwards blocked a shot on Peabody’s ensuing possession. The ball went out of bounds giving the Warhorses (10-2) one last attempt, but the shot rimmed out at the buzzer.
W-M head coach Albert Hartwell said his team, which lost by double-digits in the first two Peabody games, came out with a new attitude.
“We played physical, just like they did,” Hartwell said. “The physical fight paid off. (When) we played up there we were tentative. They beat us up. Their mentality was ‘We know we can play this way, do they want to play this way?’ We told the kids to fight back. Instead of standing there taking a whipping, we fought back.”
Jeremiah Warren led W-M with 25 points, scoring the team’s first four baskets and 10 more in the third quarter. Quajae Boutte scored 15, with all but two coming in the second half.
On W-M’s final possession, he drove and found Walker unattended under the Warhorse basket.
W-M scored 11 straight points early in the fourth quarter to take a 60-47 lead on a Jeremiah Ellis basket. Peabody responded with a 12-2 run to get within two points with 3:30 left.
The Warhorses took their only lead of the quarter on a pair of free throws by Jacoby Ross, who scored 10 of his team-high 19 points in the fourth quarter, including a pair of 3-pointers to keep Peabody in touch.
W-M scored only 6 points over the last four minutes, turning the ball over seven times in that span.
“That is what happened the past two games. In the crucial parts of the game, like the last few minutes tonight, they turned the heat up high on us and we didn’t fight back,” Hartwell said. “The hustle and desire that we needed was there tonight.
“It was there all the way through. We relaxed (late in the game). We had been running and getting easy baskets, but then we decided not to close out on their shooters. (Ross) hit a couple of big threes. We folded a little bit, but we didn’t wither all the way.”
Rick Hickman
