newhopebasketball.com Blog

Meridian vs Forrest City, Arkansas December 28th

This is an article from the Meridian Star newspaper
about the Forrest City Mustangs beating the Meridian,
Mississippi basketball team on Dec 28th.

The New Hope Trojans lost to the Forrest City team at
the Rumble on the Ridge in November by a score of
60-55.

The Clarion Ledger has Meridian ranked number ONE in
the state of Miss.

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Meridian boys fall hard in Missouri

From staff reports — Meridian High School’s boys could
not overcome a horrid start Thursday in first-day
action at the Poplar Bluff (Mo.) Showdown.

Forrest City, Ark. started the game with a 19-0 run
and took advantage of 16 first-half turnovers by
Meridian to knock off the Wildcats 83-51.

Meridian, which is now 9-3, trailed 44-15 at halftime.

Chris Gamble led the Wildcats with 12 points.

Ernie Watson’s MHS bunch is back in action in the
tourney today at 4 p.m., when they take on Harrison
High School of Kennesay, Ga. Harrison lost an 84-80
overtime thriller Thursday.

— Rocky Higginbotham

NE Lauderdale defeats Carthage in OT

Article from the Meridian Star newspaper on the Dec
28th game between NE Lauderdale and Carthage.

Northeast boys 74

Carthage 73

Northeast trailed 73-72 after O’Neal Wilder canned a
pair of free throws to put Carthage up by one with
12.7 seconds remaining in overtime.

Northeast’s Romero Osby took the inbounds pass and
drove the length of the court for the game-winning
dunk with three seconds left. Out of timeouts,
Carthage could only watch the final seconds tick away.

“We wanted to clear the floor for whoever had the
mismatch, whether it was Ro or Tommy (Tillman) or T.J.
(Ballou), and try to get a layup or get fouled,”
Northeast coach Lewis Lightsey said. “It just worked
that Ro got it, split the double team, and they just
kinda got out of the way.

“We were lucky too that they were out of timeouts and
couldn’t get a shot.”

For Northeast, which had lost its last two games to
Bay Springs and New Hope, it was a much-needed win.

“It was a big win against a very good team and we
needed a win badly,” Lightsey said. “Markesse Lanier
came off the bench and made some big shots. Kelvin
Bramlett got a couple baskets to start overtime. Ro
made a couple shots to keep us going.”

Northeast led 56-48 with 5:43 remaining in regulation,
only to have Carthage take a 64-60 lead on a dunk by
Wilder with 1:43 to go.

Lanier forced overtime when he scored in the lane off
an inbounds play with 49 seconds left.

Osby led Northeast, 11-3, with 33 points, 18 of which
came in the first half as the Trojans took a 33-31
lead into the break. Tillman finished with 14,
Bramlett had 13 and Lanier had eight.

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newhopebasketball.com note: New Hope travels to NE
Lauderdale on Tuesday, January 2nd for the rematch of
the December 19 New Hope home victory.

December 19 New Hope vs. NE Lauderdale

Final New Hope 81 NE Lauderdale 65

Harris 22 Hughes 25 Knight 6 Bush 16 White 12

Quarter 3 New Hope 59 NE Lauderdale 49

Harris 11 Hughes 10 Knight 3 Bush 10 White 5

Quarter 2 New Hope 39 NE Lauderdale 32

Quarter 1 New Hope 19 NE Lauderdale 15

Girls Final New Hope 35 NE Lauderdale 44

Girls 3rd Quarter New Hope 26 NE Lauderdale 31

New Hope shoots 78 percent (21 of 27) from free throw line.