January 15, 2008

Maroon Tide prevails over St Stanislaus 60-51

by Carey Meitzler

 The Picayune Maroon Tide hooked their wagon on senior Brandon Fortenberry and he delivered once again as the home standing

Maroon Tide held off St Stanislaus 60-51at Kelly Wise Memorial Gymnasium.  The win pushed Picayune to 18-3 overall and 8-0

in Region 8-4A.

In the early going, it was back and forth with the game tied four times in the first quarter.  Stanislaus led 9-8 on a three pointer by

Pedro Maciel with 2:01 left, however, Chris Dees put Picayune up 11-9 on his own trey with 1:25 left.  Daniel Grieves scored on

an assist from Maciel to tie the game at 11-11 with :41 left.

Brandon Fortenberry (left) walks the ball up the court against Pedro Maciel (20).

Fortenberry (4) cranks up a jump shot early in the game.

Fortenberry took over the tempo of the game as the second quarter unfolded.  He scored on a jump shot, then

drove the length of the court for a twisting, acrobatic lay up to give Picayune a 15-11 lead. The Maroon Tide's

Dees set up Fortenberry's break away by blocking Grieves' short jumper on the defensive end.

Justin Smith came off the bench to score 8 points in the quarter for Picayune with six coming off assists from

Fortenberry.  The Maroon Tide built a double digit lead that peaked at 33-15 on a put back by Fortenberry

with :25 left in the quarter.  Mason Brown scored and converted the old fashioned three point play to make

it 33-18 at the half.

Stanislaus cut the lead to 35-24 early in the third quarter on a put back by Brown, but Fortenberry responded

with consecutive drives to the basket scoring both times, one being a three point play with 4:04 left.  Reshun

Smith scored on an assist from Fortenberry to give Picayune a 48-29 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

The Rockachaws cut the lead to 52-40 behind Brown who had 11 points in the quarter, but Picayune built the

lead to 58-44 on Dees' short jumper with 2:05 left and held on for the win.

Coach Daniel Kennedy pleads his case with an official in the third quarter.

Fortenberry had 22 points, 7 rebounds, and 7 assists to pace Picayune.  Justin Smith had 10 points,

Dees had 9, and David McClain had 8 for Picayune.  Ben Daly added 5 points and 6 rebounds while

holding Stanislaus' Thomas Camargo scoreless. Travis Aubin and Reshun Smith had 5 and 4 points

respectively.

Brown lead Stanislaus with 22 points and 9 rebounds.  Maciel had 12 points and Grieves added

11 points for Stanislaus (17-3, 4-3).

Picayune hosts Long Beach on Friday at Kelly Wise.