By REID TUCKER
The Walton Middle School Warriors had to battle from behind, but once overtaking the Roulhac Tigers they were unstoppable, rolling up an eight-point lead on the way to a home-court win.
Walton rallied behind sterling performances from several players to turn a tie ballgame in the third quarter into a mini-rout in the fourth on the night of Dec. 1. Kentrell Parker, whose lefty stance and deft touch at the foul line gave the Roulhac defense fits all night, piled up a score of 29 points, while Elijah Glenn fell into the role of dependable mid-range shooter, adding 14 points from in the lane. The biggest standout in the show, however, came from the smallest player on the floor: the diminutive but dynamic Keyun Lacey, who scored 12 points – half by way of a brace of 3s in the fourth to clinch Walton’s lead.
But nobody has to win by comeback if they don’t dig a hole first.
Roulhac made the most of four Walton turnovers and outshot the Warriors in the first quarter to run up a 16-9 lead at the buzzer, and that after Walton almost took the lead when looking at a scant 10-9 Roulhac advantage with a minute to go. The Tigers felt pressure early in Q2, with Walton closing the gap to 18-17 with 4:22 remaining in the half thanks to a 1-for-2 showing from Lacey at the stripe. Neverthless, Roulhac surged ahead after Sean Cox dusted off a pair of 3-pointers and the Chipley team didn’t look back holding a big lead until Glenn cut the difference down to 31-27 at the intermission.
Walton played its guts out on defense in the third quarter, holding Roulhac to eight points, all from high-scorer Sam Dean (18 points on the night), enough to turn the tide of the ballgame. With 2:29 to go it was a one-point game. A minute later the Warriors knotted the score 37-all, and, though both sides couldn’t score in the closing moments of the period, they nevertheless were still tied, this time 39-all.
For all the struggle of the other three quarters, the Warriors absolutely cleaned house in the fourth. They scored on 7-of-12 attempts from the floor and Parker was the best of the lot, pulling and-1s in his every successful attempt on the goal. Walton started off ahead 42-41, then extended the lead to 51-43, close to the final margin of victory, as the Warrior’s best efforts at delaying tactics in the final minutes prevented Roulhac from getting any closer than eight points away.
Walton improved to 6-2 around the halfway point of the season, with six games left on the schedule.
