December 7, 2007

Maroon Tide slips past St Stanislaus 61-60

by Carey Meitzler

When Picayune and St Stanislaus square off in basketball, most of the time, the game always comes down to the last few moments.

This one was no different as Picayune staved off the Rockachaws 61-60 at Brother Phillip Memorial Gymnasium in Bay St Louis.

Picayune jumped to an early 7-2 lead on Chris Dees' three point play with 4:21 left in the first quarter.  However, Stanislaus rallied

to tie the game on a Mason Brown layup with :09 left.  Reshun Smith hit a pair of free throws with :00.9 left to give the Maroon

Tide a 14-12 lead.

Photos by Carey Meitzler

Chris Dees (center) cranks up short jumper over Pedro Maciel of St Stanislaus.

As the second quarter unfolded, the Maroon Tide went on a 10-0 run led by Reshun Smith's two 3-pointers, one that he turned into

a four point play after being fouled as he made the shot and converted the subsequent free throw.  Pedro Maciel hit two free throws

for Stanislaus with 5:29 left in the quarter.  Dees hit a three pointer with 4:25 left to give Picayune its largest lead at 27-14. 

Stanislaus cut the lead to 31-26 at the half.

David McClain (3) applies defense against Stanislaus' Brian Lynch.

Stanislaus gained their first lead of the game at 37-36 on Thomas Camargo's two free throws with 4:21 left in the third quarter.

The lead change hands three times the rest of the quarter with Picayune taking a 42-41 lead on a David McClain layup with :40 left.

Picayune built a 50-43 lead with 5:27 left on Smith's two free throws, but the Rockachaws went on a 9-0 run lead by Maciel and

Camargo to lead 52-50 with 4:01 left.  After a Tide timeout, McClain scored on a layup on an assist from Smith.  After a Stanislaus

basket by Daniel Grieves, Dees scored on a short jumper to give Picayune 56-54 lead with 2:01 left.  Maciel hit two free throws

with 1:20 left to tie the game.  Smith then scored, was fouled, and converted the three point play with 1:12 left giving Picayune a

59-56 lead.  Maciel scored on a layup to cut it to 59-58 with :53 left.  Smith was fouled with :13 left and calmly sank both free

throws for a 61-58 lead.  Maciel scored again on a layup and Stanislaus called their last timeout with :06 left.  Smith was fouled on

the inbounds play and went to the free throw line to shoot a one-and-one  with :02 left.  Smith missed the first free throw and

Stanislaus' Grieves desperation shot after the rebound was well short as the horn sounded.

Smith had 18 points coming off the bench to lead the Maroon Tide.  Chris Dees scored 16 points and Brandon Fortenberry

added 11 points.  Ben Daly scored 8 points and grabbed 9 rebounds. David McClain had 8 points and 5 rebounds.

For Stanislaus (9-1, 0-1), Pedro Maciel had 24 points and Thomas Camargo tallied 14 points.

Picayune (8-0, 1-0) will host D'Iberville on Tuesday with JV action at 5:00pm followed by Varsity Girls at 6:15pm and Varsity Boys

to follow.