5 A-CENTRAL

16-0 run lifts Bruins, hold on to top Bears

— Pulaski Academy scored the first 13 points of the fourth quarter to erase a two-point deficit to start the quarter and beat Sylvan Hills 54-51 on Friday night in Sherwood.

The Bruins (6-4, 3-1 5A Central Conference) scored the final three points of the third quarter, too, to get within 33-31 after the third, and their 16-0 run gave them a 44-33 lead with 5:47 left.

“You have to give credit to coach [Kevin] Davis and his team for fighting back,” Pulaski Academy Coach Roger Franks said. “They would not go away. We had to make a lot of free throws there at the end, and even when we missed two they still had a shot.’”

In a 54-51 game with 5.8 seconds left, Pulaski Academy’s Tyler Colquitt missed a pair of free throws, ending a streak of eight consecutive made by the Bruins, giving the Bears one final shot. Ronnie Hinton’s three-pointer at the buzzer hit the rim, bounced straight up and fell to the side.

“We just had too many turnovers at a critical time,” Davis said. “But that is the way it goes with a young team some times. We graduated eight seniors and this team is mostly sophomore and juniors and there is not a lot of experience out there.”

Sylvan Hills (4-7, 0-4) began the final quarter with a 33-31 lead. But the Bruins, who scored the final three points of the third quarter, scored the first 13 of the final quarter to take a 44-33 lead with 5:47 left in the period.

Fueling the Bruins’ run, which was led by eight points from freshman Lawson Korita, was a stretch of five consecutive turnovers by the Bears. By the time Sylvan Hills’ Trajon Doss made a three-pointer with 3:15 left, the Bears had turned it over six times, missed two free throws and made just one of five shots in the final quarter.

The Bears might have pulled off their frantic comeback if not for the Bruins making eight consecutive free throws from Korita, Brandon Brady and Marcus Wallace.

“I thought we picked up our defense and stopped standing around,” Franks said. “We stood around on defense too much tonight and were not as aggressive as we usually are.”

Brady led the Bruins with26 and Korita had 12.

Aumonie Armond led the Bears with 17. Hinton scored eight, including a pair of three pointers. The Bears hit seven three-pointers in the game.

Sylvan Hills led 15-12 after one quarter and 24-22 at halftime.

Sports, Pages 24 on 01/19/2013

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