Laney holds off Southern Wayne

By Ryan Hanchett
Published in Sports on December 10, 2009 1:46 PM

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DUDLEY -- Four quarters were not enough to decide the boys' basketball contest between Southern Wayne and Wilmington Laney on Wednesday night.

The former Mideastern 4-A Conference opponents went into overtime before the Buccaneers pulled out a 63-62 victory.

Southern Wayne used a furious fourth quarter to climb back into contention. The Saints cut a 13-point, second-half deficit down to one with three minutes to play on a jumper by Khari Faison.

Bishop Flood extended Laney's advantage to 57-54 one minute later, but Faison immediately answered with a putback. After a failed Buccaneer possession, Saints guard Gary Woodard drove the lane and drew a foul.

Woodard made the game-tying free throw, but missed the second attempt. A final shot by Laney guard Josh Shackleford came up short and forced overtime.

"I was really proud of my guys' effort tonight," said Southern Wayne head coach Russell Stephens. "We got down double digits and we could have thrown in the towel, but to our credit our guys battled back."

With 32 seconds remaining in overtime, the Saints (4-3 overall) grabbed the lead on a Ramsey Turner 3-pointer. Not to be denied, the Buccaneers called timeout and regrouped for a final shot trailing 62-61. After allowing 25 seconds to tick away, Flood raced into the lane and buried a short jumper.

Woodard got the final shot of the game for the Saints. He ran into the front court and got a solid look at the rim, but his jumper fell short as the horn sounded.

"We just couldn't get that last stop tonight," said Stephens. "The last shot of the game was a pretty good look, but it wouldn't drop. We were close."

Devonte Artis paced the Saints with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Justin Artis added 12 points. Teammates Khari Faison and Delfawn Worrells each added eight points apiece.

Wayne Heidelberg and Flood knocked down 20 and 12 points, respectively, for Laney.

Southern Wayne is the guest of Jones Senior on Friday.