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Pine Tree falls
short to Cleburne, 49-46
By GABRIEL
D. BROOKS
Saturday, February 28, 2009
CORSICANA — After falling behind by nine points early in the second
quarter, Pine Tree came back to pester Cleburne the rest of the game. Pine
Tree couldn't come all the way back, though, as two last-second
three-point heaves fell short to preserve a 49-46 Cleburne win.
The Pirates cut their deficit to one three times, and tied the game
twice in the third quarter. Cleburne extended its lead to 39-33 entering
the fourth and led by six, 45-39, with as little as 2:23 remaining in the
game. Pirate point guard Ben Goodman scored twice in a 35-second span,
cutting Cleburne's lead to 48-46 with 10.8 seconds left.
Cleburne's Mikel Boston, who scored 15 points despite 3-for-10
free-throw shooting, split his final pair from the charity stripe for a
49-46 lead with 10.0 seconds left. Pine Tree pushed the ball down the
floor, and Kevin Bitting fired an off-balance three that fell short. The
rebound was tapped outside to Goodman, who was bumped with less than two
seconds remaining as he fired his off-balance three-point attempt, which
also fell short.
Pine Tree head coach Rick Dowdle liked the way his team fought.
"I'm just proud of them. We've come a long way since the first
game of the season," Dowdle said.
Goodman led Pine Tree with 13 points, nine of which came in the second
half. Tyler Kids, typically a 5-11 guard, played inside most of the night,
sometimes drawing the defensive assignment of Cleburne's
best player, Ethan Anderson. Kids held his own in the paint,
finishing with 12 points, 10 rebounds and three assists. John Brisco had
seven points, five rebounds and five steals before fouling out with 59.7
seconds left. Senior Ladarrius Taylor had five points and four assists,
while Keith Brenner grabbed six rebounds.
Anderson's 20 points and eight rebounds led
Cleburne. Anderson shot 7-for-15 from the field and 3-for-8 from the
free-throw line. Robert White added seven points and four
rebounds while playing with foul trouble in the second half.
Despite playing without Terrance Sparkman — Pine Tree's leading
scorer and rebounder — for the second straight game, PT won the glass
27-25. Cleburne, however, gained an 18-13 second-half rebounding edge.
Pine Tree concludes the 2008-09 season with an 18-12 record and
District 13-4A championship. Cleburne (26-7) faces Jacksonville or
Lancaster in the next round.
Second half
Two scoring droughts cost Pine Tree. Taylor scored with 3:05 left in
the third to cut Cleburne's lead to 34-33, but the Pirates didn't score
the rest of the quarter. Cleburne pushed its advantage to 39-33 through
three periods. Pine Tree missed numerous shots at the rim during the
drought.
Kids scored twice inside on Anderson to cut the gap to 39-37 with 7:18
remaining. Pine Tree's only points in the next 5:06 were two free throws
as the Pirates again misfired at close range several times. Meanwhile,
Cleburne extended a couple of possessions with multiple offensive
rebounds, and led 45-39 with 2:23 left.
Taylor hit a three off a Kids assist to make the score 45-42 with 2:06
remaining. Cleburne had trouble putting the Pirates away as the Yellow
Jackets shot 4-for-11 from the charity stripe in the final 1:15.
First half
Cleburne jumped to a 10-4 lead before four straight PT points cut it to
10-8 with 1:28 left in the first. Boston hit a trey and Anderson banked in
a shot for a 15-8 lead through one.
Anderson's pullup jumper 41 seconds into the second gave Cleburne a
17-8 lead, the largest of the game. Pine Tree answered with a 9-2 run and
trailed by no more than three points in the final 4:04 of the half.
Trailing by three, Kids cut PT's deficit to one, 24-23, with 19.1
seconds left for the halftime count.
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