VIDEO: Bulldogs surge from 16 down, end Titans’ 16-game winning streak
Published 10:50 pm Friday, February 14, 2020
- Joseph Gipson of Nederland handles the basketball as Amaree Abram of Memorial defends against him in Port Arthur. (I.C. Murrell/The News) 2-14-20
With 3:50 left in the third period, Nederland trailed 32-16 and host Memorial appeared to be on its way to a second outright district championship in three years.
Things aren’t always what they seem.
Joseph Gipson sparked a 3-point barrage to help the Bulldogs storm back from the big deficit and stun the 5A fourth-ranked Titans 46-43 in Port Arthur on Friday night. Nederland can share the District 21-5A championship with Memorial by winning the regular season finale Tuesday against Barbers Hill at the Dog Dome. That will likely result in a tiebreaker game for first place.
Final 1.2 seconds of @NederlandHoops 46, @PAMemorialBB 43 pic.twitter.com/5ocoFWWFFw
— I.C. Murrell (@ICMurrellPB) February 15, 2020
Memorial (28-6, 11-1) saw a 16-game winning streak snap and suffered its first loss since Dec. 20, when Beaumont United won 58-56 in Port Arthur. The Titans, who finished their regular season, are 49-3 in district games since moving down to 5A in 2016.
All 15 of Gipson’s points came on 3-point baskets, four of which he made in the second half. By the time the third period ended, Nederland (25-9, 10-1 in 21-5A) had gone from not scoring during the first 5 minutes of the quarter to pulling within 32-30.
Tyler Jackson made two free throws with 7:28 remaining in the game to give the Bulldogs their first lead, 33-32, since the 6:50 mark of the second quarter. Gipson swished two more treys to extend Nederland’s 23-0 run.
Amaree Abram, who finished with 20 points, tied the game on a 3 with 48 seconds left, but Texas A&M signee Hayden Hefner drew a reach-in foul 14 seconds later and hit the second of two free throws to put the Bulldogs back ahead. Gipson rebounded a missed corner 3 by Memorial’s Colton Mitchell and, coming out of a timeout, Jackson was sent to the free-throw line, where he made a pair of shots.
Abram had two chances to send the game to overtime. He missed a running 3 on the way down with 1.2 seconds left, but after the ball last touched a Nederland player going out of bounds, he took the inbound pass and only hit the backboard from the same spot, just outside the top of the key.
Nederland led 9-8 after one quarter but trailed 22-16 at the break after Kenneth Lofton Jr. canned a trey to beat the buzzer. That started a 13-0 run the Bulldogs would avenge.
Free throws came back to haunt the Titans. They shot 6 for 16, including 1 for 7 in the fourth quarter. Nederland made 15 of 26.
Jackson finished with 10 points (he was 6 for 7 in free throws), Josh Seymour had seven (4 for 4 at the line) and Hefner was held to six points.
Lofton scored 19 for the Titans.
About I.C. Murrell
I.C. Murrell was promoted to editor of The News, effective Oct. 14, 2019. He previously served as sports editor since August 2015 and has won or shared eight first-place awards from state newspaper associations and corporations. He was born in Memphis, Tennessee, grew up mostly in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, and graduated from the University of Arkansas at Monticello.
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