Cold shooting 'Cats fall to Vikings in region championship

Shane Thomas, The Valdosta Daily Times, Ga.
·2 min read

Feb. 20—VALDOSTA — The home rims were unkind to the Valdosta Wildcats as their quest for the Region 1-7A championship ended with a 66-47 loss to arch-rival Lowndes Friday night.

With the win, the Vikings repeated as Region 1-7A champions.

Outside of two 3-pointers by senior guard James Siplen in the first quarter, the 'Cats went the remaining three quarters without a 3-point basket as they were unable to shoot the Vikings out of a well-prepared zone defense.

Without the 3-point shot falling, the 'Cats had to rely on their aggression attacking the rim and while it kept them connected early on, eventually the forays to the rim devolved into wild shots that involuntarily fueled the Vikings' transition offense.

Lowndes forward Darmarcus Black proved unstoppable for the Valdosta defense, pouring in a career-high 31 points to lead Lowndes to victory. Black scored 16 of his 31 points in the second half.

Down 29-18 at halftime, the 'Cats opened the third with a 6-0 run to cut the lead to five on an offensive rebound and lay-in by Ajaye Felton midway through the third.

Vikings sophomore Kam Jackson made two free throws with 4:14 left in the quarter that spurred a transformative 13-4 run to put the Vikings ahead 42-28 with 2 minutes left in the frame.

The Vikings made a pair of emphatic plays to end the third as Black hammered home a missed layup attempt by Ruben Compton then buried his third 3-pointer of the quarter to open up a 47-32 lead heading to the fourth.

In the fourth, the Vikings began to separate as Compton tripled on back-to-back possessions and Black split a pair of free throws to put the Vikings up 54-36 with 5:15 left in the game.

Following an offensive foul by Valdosta's DJ Berry, Black answered with a driving bank shot to push the lead to 58-38 with under 4 minutes left.

Siplen led the 'Cats with 13 points, Berry added 11 points and Percy Chastang scored seven in the loss.

Valdosta head coach James Lee was unavailable for comment after the game.

Lowndes heads into the state playoffs on a five-game winning streak while Valdosta enters the playoffs winners of five of their last seven games — both losses to Lowndes.

UP NEXT

Valdosta hosts Campbell in the first round of the state playoffs Wednesday at 7 p.m.

Shane Thomas is the sports editor at the Valdosta Daily Times.