GHS, CHS split in Summer League finale

By Dustin Kent

Published: June 25, 2008

Graceville and Cottondale wound up their Summer League seasons Tuesday night in Marianna.

The Tigers and Hornets both played Bonifay and Chipley, with both teams registering a win over Bonifay before falling to Chipley.

Graceville topped Bonifay 43-30 and Cottondale took a 70-48 win.

However, the Hornets fell to Chipley 52-43, while the Tigers pushed Chipley hard before suffering a 46-43 defeat.

Cottondale actually jumped out to an 8-0 lead to start the game, but Chipley responded with 16 straight points to reclaim control of the game with 6:25 left in the first half.

The Hornets fell down by 11 late in the first half before Dominique Webb came up with two buckets, the last coming at the buzzer after picking the pocket of a Chipley ballhandler, to cut it to 23-16 at the half.

Chipley pushed the lead back to 12 at 38-26, but Cottondale rallied with an 8-0 spurt.

Marcus Humose and Terry Benbow added back-to-back jumpers to get the run started, then Webb and Drew Bellamy scored buckets to trim the deficit to four points with 5:50 left in the game.

Chipley responded with a three-point play to extend the lead back to seven, but Humose cut it to five at 43-38 on a jumper and Benbow had a chance to cut the lead to three on a break-out lay-up attempt, but came up short.

Chipley raced back down the court to score and make it 45-38 with 3:07 to play.

Chipley scored again moments later after another missed point-blank shot by Cottondale, then added a triple to make it 50-38 with 1:50 to play.

In its game, Graceville also found itself facing an early deficit to Chipley, trailing 22-13 late in the first half.

However, a pair of buckets by Craig Myrick and Byron Laster trimmed the deficit to just four at 24-20 at halftime.

Graceville carried that momentum over into the second half with an 11-0 run, with baskets by Myrick and Cameron Dozier tying the game before a jumper by

Jonath Miller gave Graceville the lead at 28-26.

A 3-pointer moments later by Myrick made it 31-26 with 13:30 to play.

Chipley answered with a 9-0 run before three-point plays by Dozier and Chris Wertz tied the game up at 37-37 with four minutes to go.

A free throw by Wertz and a bucket by Myrick put Graceville up 41-37 with 2:36 to go.

However, Chipley answered back with an 8-0 run to take a 44-41 lead with 17 seconds to play.

Graceville had one last chance to tie with 5.5 seconds on the clock, but couldn’t get a shot up.

GHS coach Eric Smith said he was happy with his team’s competitive spirit, though he would’ve liked to have seen it from the opening tip.

“We started the game soft and scared,” he said. “We’ve got to learn to fight for the whole game. We’ve got the talent to be competitive no matter who we play.

“We scrapped and battled to get back in it, but we’ve just got to start off that way.”

Smith said he has been pleased with what his team has accomplished this summer.

“I’ve been very happy so far,” the coach said. “We’ve really improved. The kids are very excited. We’re young, but really everybody (in Jackson County) is young.”

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