No. 5 Vincent 79, Fultondale 51: Ouch!
Published 10:17 pm Friday, December 10, 2010
- Fultondale’s Deundrea Marshall (10) faces off against Vincent guard Austin Davis (5) during the Wildcats’ 79-51 loss to the Yellow Jackets. Marshall led all scorers with 24 points.
The Vincent Yellow Jackets are one of the best small-school boys basketball teams in the state, ranked fifth in Class 2A. They’re big, they’re athletic, and led by a 6-foot-4 senior who can dunk the ball at will and whose cousin plays for the NBA.
Fultondale knew all that coming into Thursday night’s Area 10 game, and did the best they could to stop the Jackets.
That wasn’t enough, as the Wildcats found out in the first four minutes. Center Keyon Wallace — cousin of Charlotte Bobcats forward Gerald Wallace — opened the festivities with two huge slams, followed by a 3-pointer from the corner, as Vincent ran away with a 79-51 victory.
It wasn’t a complete blowout for the Cats, as they kept the deficit within reason through much of the third quarter, until the Jackets (8-2, 2-0 area) went on a late run.
Fultondale, meanwhile suffered from a shooting slump, something they could ill afford against Vincent.
“We didn’t shoot particularly well, and when you don’t shoot well against a team with Wallace and [forward Bruce] Hamilton, you get one shot at it and that’s it,” Wildcat coach Richie Busby said.
Wallace finished with 17 points and eight rebounds in somewhat-limited playing time. Hamilton led the Jackets with 22 points and 13 rebounds. Ben McKinney added 18 points and Dontravious Moon scored 11 off the bench.
Deundrea Marshall scored a game-high 24 points for Fultondale (1-3, 1-1).
Girls — Vincent 48, Fultondale 41: The Wildcats were up by five after three quarters, and Jackets junior 6-foot-0 forward Kiara Cohill was frustrated.
She got over it as the fourth quarter began, scoring nine straight points — including all three free throws when she was fouled while shooting outside the arc — to put Vincent (3-7, 2-0) up for good.
“We had a couple of fouls that totally switched the momentum,” Fultondale coach Melanie Gearhart said. “We turned it over to them.”
Cohill finished with 34 points. Guard Brooklyn Jones scored 12, despite sitting out part of the game after a hard spill.
Katrina Hubbard led Fultondale (1-2, 1-1) with 14 points. Briana Griffin added 10 points.
