By REID TUCKER
South Walton beat Baker 55-50 to pick up a district win at home, but the visiting Gators didn’t make it easy on the Seahawks.
The proceedings were nip-and-tuck until the tail end of the Nov. 24 contest, with both teams opening up like a house on fire when it came to long-range shooting: Baker knocked down 10 3-pointers and South Walton had nine over the course of the game. Despite that commitment to perimeter shooting, it was defense and foul shots that characterized the game’s later stages and indeed settled the matter in the Seahawk’s favor. Baker’s Austin Walters, who led the Gators and indeed all players in scoring with 23 points to his credit, scored the first of his team’s 10 3-pointers on the night inside the first minute of play, and South Walton wasn’t far behind. The ‘Hawks’ Tyler Gibbs responded with a 3 just seconds later, but Walters came right back with yet another 3, and South Walton junior Randall Hall (14 points) popped off a brace of his own beyond-the-arch basket. Baker tied the game 11-all, but the Seahawks’ Johnathan Bekkers (14 points) went to the inside for a score and a 13-11 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The Gators went up by two points down the stretch in the second period, and neither team scored for the better part of two minutes until South Walton tied the game at 22-all with 2:40 left before the half. Bekkers, Walters and Derek Peoples continued to hammer away from 3-point range in the second quarter, but it was John Woolf (13 points), who helped to tie the game earlier, that put the Seahawks up 24-22 at halftime with a layup.
With close to six minutes to go in the third quarter the score was tied 26-all, but Baker soon went up by three – thanks again to Walters – but South Walton scrambled and both sides started to really push hard, bringing the score up to the mid-30s. The game was once again tied at the end of the quarter, this time at 39-all.
Bekkers came out strong at the start of the fourth, adding two more 3s in rapid succession, putting South Walton ahead 45-39, but Walters responded with two baskets as well, and, aided by his team mates, the score locked up again. However, South Walton took advantage of trips to the foul line and pulled away by 10 points in the closing minutes of the game. Eight of SoWal’s last 10 points were made at the charity stripe, and not even a last-ditch effort of another 3-pointer and a mid-range from Walters could overcome the Seahawks’ late-game lead.
South Walton beat Baker 55-50 to pick up a district win at home, but the visiting Gators didn’t make it easy on the Seahawks.
The proceedings were nip-and-tuck until the tail end of the Nov. 24 contest, with both teams opening up like a house on fire when it came to long-range shooting: Baker knocked down 10 3-pointers and South Walton had nine over the course of the game. Despite that commitment to perimeter shooting, it was defense and foul shots that characterized the game’s later stages and indeed settled the matter in the Seahawk’s favor. Baker’s Austin Walters, who led the Gators and indeed all players in scoring with 23 points to his credit, scored the first of his team’s 10 3-pointers on the night inside the first minute of play, and South Walton wasn’t far behind. The ‘Hawks’ Tyler Gibbs responded with a 3 just seconds later, but Walters came right back with yet another 3, and South Walton junior Randall Hall (14 points) popped off a brace of his own beyond-the-arch basket. Baker tied the game 11-all, but the Seahawks’ Johnathan Bekkers (14 points) went to the inside for a score and a 13-11 lead at the end of the first quarter.
The Gators went up by two points down the stretch in the second period, and neither team scored for the better part of two minutes until South Walton tied the game at 22-all with 2:40 left before the half. Bekkers, Walters and Derek Peoples continued to hammer away from 3-point range in the second quarter, but it was John Woolf (13 points), who helped to tie the game earlier, that put the Seahawks up 24-22 at halftime with a layup.
With close to six minutes to go in the third quarter the score was tied 26-all, but Baker soon went up by three – thanks again to Walters – but South Walton scrambled and both sides started to really push hard, bringing the score up to the mid-30s. The game was once again tied at the end of the quarter, this time at 39-all.
Bekkers came out strong at the start of the fourth, adding two more 3s in rapid succession, putting South Walton ahead 45-39, but Walters responded with two baskets as well, and, aided by his team mates, the score locked up again. However, South Walton took advantage of trips to the foul line and pulled away by 10 points in the closing minutes of the game. Eight of SoWal’s last 10 points were made at the charity stripe, and not even a last-ditch effort of another 3-pointer and a mid-range from Walters could overcome the Seahawks’ late-game lead.