Iuka Gets Last Second Buzzer Beating Bucket to Advance at 5 County Tournament
*IUKA GETS LAST SECOND BUZZER BEATING BUCKET TO ADVANCE AT 5 COUNTY TOURNAMENT*
Points were at a premium in the third game of the night between Ripley and Iuka on Wednesday at the 5 County Tournament at Northeast Mississippi Community college.
Iuka’s Braxton Brown saw his opportunity to pay the premium in the game’s final second.
Brown launched a long-range jump shot from the left corner after taking the inbounds with just 1.8 seconds remaining. A hard bounce off the front of the rim and the sweet sound of the ball falling through the net gave Iuka an 18-17 victory.
With the win, Iuka advances to the semifinals of the 5-County Eighth Grade Basketball Championships to take on Booneville at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, January 27, at the Bonner Arnold Coliseum on the campus of Northeast Mississippi Community College.
The Chieftans of Iuka and the Tigers of Ripley both scraped and scrapped for every point in the game, playing to a 2-0 score after one quarter and an 8-8 tie at halftime.
In a back-and-forth contest, Iuka would lead for most of the fourth after Brown gave the Chieftains a 16-13 lead with a free throw midway through the 4th quarter.
Iuka’s lead was short-lived as Ripley’s JaSiri Yanez got his own rebound and went back up for a putback with 3:29 left in the game to cut the Iuka lead to 16-15.
Iuka went into stall mode on their next possession and the Chiefs ran almost a minute off the clock before the Tiger’s Erin Scott was able to get a steal and breakaway layup to give Ripley its first lead of the quarter.
Both teams had a chance to take control of the game late in the contest, but Deontre Mitchell thwarted a couple of Ripley attempts, and Scott forced a jump ball with 10.2 seconds showing.
Scott’s jump ball gave the ball back to Iuka under its own goal and set Brown up for the game-winner.
Leading scorers:
RIPLEY (17): Gabe Carroll 9, Erin Scott 4, Jasiri Yanez 2, Charlie Cross 2.
IUKA (18): Deontre Mitchell 6, Braxton Brown 6, Domonic Alexander 2, Connor Nunley 2
