02-18-13
BY JACK BULLOCK
MOUNDS - On Monday night at the Meridian 1A Regional the Cairo Pilots used their quickness advantage to take care of business in advancing into the semifinals.

Getting 11-different players scoring points and using its athletic gifts to crash the offensive boards for second, third and sometimes fourth chances, Cairo romped to an easy 78-48 win over Dongola in the Monday night opener.

Coach Brian Brandtner unleashed his clubs defensive fury on the Demons, forcing 21-turnovers as the Pilots opened up an easy lead early and never let up in improving to 9-16 on the season.

Terion Taylor, a quick 5-foot-10 senior guard, topped the charts with 24-points, scoring 20 of those points in the first half as Cairo sprinted to a double-digit lead in the first quarter and never looked back in advancing to Wednesday nights' semifinals.

As for the Demons, their season closed at 15-12 with 6-foot freshman Kyle Cox leading the way with 13-points.

Six-foot-six senior center Tyler Eddleman scored six points and grabbed 13-rebounds in his final game, after passing the 1,000-point plateau three weeks ago.

The Pilots game plan was simple; enforce their will on Dongola with a relentless pressure defense all over the court.

Forcing the Demons into early mistakes, Cairo turned a 4-4 tie in the early moments of the contest into a 16-6 lead.

Taylor canned back-to-back 3-pointers in the run, breaking the final tie of the matchup.

He added two more scores on offensive rebounds of his own missed shots as the lead ballooned to double-digits and never fell below 10-points the remainder of the game.

Raquan Nelson and Jarvis Woodson also got in on the fast-break fun in the first quarter, each of them scoring on drives to the basket in transition.

By the time the first frame was completed, Dongola had committed six turnovers and were down 22-13.

“Well the biggest thing is that we don't have any depth. We go six deep and that is it. Most of those kids are playing the whole game and that makes it tough,” said Dongola head coach Russ Marsh. “We knew what we were getting into because we had played them before. They have gotten better and we have regressed. There were some things that we would like to do, like press and run the floor, but when you only have six kids then it is difficult. Your legs get tired and tonight we don't get back and tonight it showed.”

Cairo missed nine shots in the first eight minutes but nabbed six offensive boards.

Coach Brandtner's bunch pulled away in the second quarter and used a half-closing 7-0 run to expand the lead to 41-24 at intermission.

Taylor scored four of those points and Devante Johnson scored on a fast break lay in while being fouled by Cox.

The Demons headed to the lockerroom after being outed with 11-turnovers and trailed by 17.

Woodson scored nine-points in the third quarter, including seven-consecutive.

One of the scores turned into a conventional three-point play on a fast-break.

His lay in while being fouled by Dongola's Brock Patterson increased the lead to over 20-points for the first time.

Seconds later, on another turnover, Woodson took a pass from Devante Johnson for another lay in and a 54-30 lead with 4:47 left.

Johnson opened the fourth quarter with another fast-break finish and 5-foot-7 senior reserve Floyd Johnson got in on the excitement with a 3-pointer that pushed the lead to 67-40 at the 5:51 mark.

Both coaches emptied the benches in the final minutes of the fourth quarter as Dongola saw its season come to a close while the Pilots survived and advanced.

The Pilots hit 41.6 percent of their field goal attempts (35-of-84) which was a number that was worsened by its ability to get to the offensive glass.

Cairo yanked down 29-offensive rebounds and held a 51-29 overall edge.

“I told the kids you have to find a body (rebounding) and you have to box out, and we didn't do that tonight,” added Coach Marsh.

Although they played a “helter-skelter” kind of game, they committed only six turnovers with the regular lineup on the floor, with four late miscues making the turnover total ten.

Dongola closed out its season with a 19-of-49 field goal effort (38.7 percent) in the defeat.

“Tyler (Eddleman) has been consistent. He has been there for us for four years now,” said Coach Marsh. “I'm real proud of this kid. You can't get a better kid than him. Good abilities and just a good person.”

CENTURY 78, JOPPA 36
Not unlike their first game predecessors, the Centurions crushed their opposition on the offensive glass in a dominating performance as head coach Travis Foster saw his club advance with a regional win.

Devontay Pullett pounded the Rangers in the paint, grabbing nine offensive rebounds (11 total) and led all scorers with 24-points as the Centurions left little doubt in its victory by sprinting out to a 27-11 first quarter lead.

Cordon Hight, a 6-foot senior, added 17-points for Century in the romp.

Joppa saw its season end at 3-19 with Mike Sparks leading the effort with 16-points while Tyler Castleman chipped in 10.

Coach Foster's group jumped out to an early 14-3 addy with Pullett scoring six of those points.

Century outrebounded Joppa, 50-24 and grabbed six offensive rebounds in the first quarter that ended with a 16-point spread.

“We knew that we had a huge advantage in the post tonight. We knew that they (Joppa) weren't very big. And our big guys hit the glass pretty well. We said that everytime down the floor the post players have to get a touch,” said Coach Foster. “I told the guards we have to get the ball inside. I thought that we established our inside game really well.”

Century used its bench a bit early in the second quarter and Joppa made its only real run of the night.

After Caden Hight, Cordon's brother, hit a 3-pointer to push the lead to 30-11, the Rangers finally got on track against some second-stringers and made some noise.

Two 3-pointers from Castleman, a junior guard, and a pair of scores from freshman Trenton Lewis breathed some life into the Joppa sails.

However the Centurions got back to business to close the half strong.

Century scored the final 10-points of the second quarter with Davarae Edmonds scoring twice with a 3-pointer and an offensive rebound off of a missed free throw by Cordon Hight.

Junior forward Zach Sauerbrunn added a basket in the final seconds as the Centurions were in charge at 46-21 at the break.

Pullett, who ended up with a double-double with 24-points and 11-rebounds, scored on a pair of offensive rebound chances in the third quarter.

His second rebound bucket pushed the lead to 55-24 with 4:21 remaining in the third period.

Pullett also got in on the defensive fun, grabbing an errant Joppa pass and found Cordon Hight for a transition score and a 59-30 edge.

Another 10-0 sprint put and exclamation point on the victory with Pullett scoring five of those points.

A 3-pointer by junior guard Aaron Jones gave Century a 73-32 lead with 2:45 remaining before the mop-up crews were sent in to clean up the excess minutes.

“We are just so small and we have a bunch of young kids. They go at it and try hard but we have some kids who before this year had never played before so they try hard and play hard but we got outrebounded every game,” said Joppa head coach Ken Harris. “I've got some freshman kids who learned this year and they never gave up.”

Century improved to 15-13 on the season and will play against Egyptian on Wednesday night in the second semifinal game.

The Pharaohs and the Centurions split their two regular season contests.

Egyptian won the first game 66-59 at home back on December 14 while the Centurions turned the tables on February 1 with an 83-77 victory.

Joppa (36) – Lewis 1 1 0-2 5, Jackson 0 0 0-0 0, Harvill 0 0 0-0 0, Naeger 0 0 0-0 0, Sparks 5 2 0-0 16, Castleman 2 2 0-0 10, Arrisomn 2 0 1-4 5.
2FG-10, 3FG-5, FT-1-6, PF-9.
Century (78) – Wethineton 0 0 0-0 0, Crane 0 0 0-0 0, Jones 1 1 0-0 4,, Hagler 0 0 0-0 0, Caden Hight 2 1 0-0 7, Clemons 0 0 0-0 0, Edmonds 4 1 1-4 12, ASauerbrunn 3 0 2-2 8, Jones 1 1 0-0 5, Cordon 7 0 3-4 17, Pullett 11 0 2-4 24. 2FG-29, 3FG-4, FT-8-14, PF-11.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.