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Mayti carries Red Devils to win over Wildcats

Posted March 03, 2010 10:00 pm

Greg Keller

</element><element id="paragraph-1" type="body"><![CDATA[The Carrier Mills Wildcats put their usual stamp of patient offense and suffocating defense on the first quarter of Wednesday night's sectional semifinal in Eldorado.

The rest of the night - for the most part - belonged to Justin Mayti and the Sesser-Valier Red Devils.

Mayti finished with 29 points, including clutch late free throws and a rally-killing stickback - carrying his club to a 52-42 victory, and into the sectional title game. Sesser-Valier will now play top-seeded Meridian on Friday at Duff Kingston Gym, with a 7:30 p.m. tip-off.

The loss ends the Wildcats' stellar season at 25-6.

The game started slowly on offense for both teams, with Sesser-Valier holding a 4-2 lead over three minutes in, before the Wildcats started their run with an 18-footer from Wyatt Kirkland to knot the score.

Jordan Miller got on a loose ball and found Kirkland on a runout for another score, putting the Wildcats on top, and long jumpers by Chase Craig and Rae Ward capped an 8-0 run that had the Wildcats up 10-4 with 2:40 left.

The quarter almost ended that way, but Miller - going hard after a tap-out by Sesser-Valier's T.J. Eubanks - fouled Dane Eubanks on a three-point attempt as the first quarter buzzer sounded. Eubanks hit two of three foul shots while alone on the court, cutting the Wildcats' lead to 10-6 after one.

After Sesser-Valier got within a point for the first time since the early going, a big hustle play gave the Wildcats some temporary room. A Dillan Harrison airball was let go by the Red Devil interior, but Ward laid out in full, diving for the ball and saving it Jordan Jackson underneath for a hoop that put their club up 14-11.

Mayti took over from there, showing range with a 17-footer, then scoring through a double team to put his team up 15-14.

Ward regained the lead for the Cats with a turnaround, high-bank shot off the class, but D. Eubanks canned a three on the other end. And on the final possession of the half, when Eubanks missed a late three, Mayti was there to gather in the rebound and put it back in, leaving S-V up 20-17 at the break.

Carrier Mills regained the lead briefly out of the chute in the second half, with a tough turnaround jumper by Jackson and a three by Craig giving them a 22-20 edge with 6:46 left in the third.

Mayti answered, along with teammate Kendall Gibson. The post pair exchanged the game's next four buckets, giving Sesser-Valier a 28-22 lead with 3:18 left, and forcing a timeout.

The Wildcats closed within three on a couple of occasions, but got no closer as the third quarter wound down. Gibson then closed out his eight-point frame - all the points he'd score on the night - by canning a 15-foot, one-handed leaner at the buzzer, giving Sesser-Valier a 36-30 lead after three.

That lead fluctuated between four and eight points for most of the fourth quarter, before the Wildcats made a valiant final run. With 1:20 left, Sesser's Myles Tinsley stole a ball away from Kirkland and drew a foul, hitting one of two free throws.

On the other end, though, Carrier Mills made the most of a second chance. Harrison's three went long, but Ward chased down the miss, and after working the ball around the perimeter, JR Brown got a trey from the right side to go down, cutting the deficit to 44-42 with 49 seconds left.

Mayti got the front end of the one-and-one, but missed the second. However, Harrison was called for a charge on the other end. Mayti added a pair of free throws with 30 seconds left, and Craig and Brown missed treys on the other end.

As the final nail in the coffin, Mayti stuck back a second free throw by Shad Donovan, putting Sesser up 50-42 with 18 seconds left.

Mayti finished with 29 points - 18 in the second half - and was the only Red Devil in double figures, though D. Eubanks added nine and Gibson eight.

Kirkland led the Wildcats with 16 points. Craig added 11, but no other Wildcat had more than four.

CM 10 7 13 12 - 42

SV 6 14 16 16 - 52

CM (25-6): Kirkland 7 1-2 16, Craig 5 0-0 11, Ward 2 0-0 4, Jackson 2 0-0 4, Miller 1 1-4 3, Brown 1 0-0 3, Morgan 0 1-2 1. Totals: 18 3-8 42.

SV: D. Eubanks 3 2-3 9, Tinsley 1 1-3 3, Gibson 4 0-0 8, Mayti 11 7-9 29, Donovan 1 1-2 3. Totals: 20 11-17 52.

Three-point field goals: CM 3 (Kirkland, Craig, Brown), SV 1 (D. Eubanks). Turnovers: CM 15, SV 11. Rebounds: CM 26 (Ward 8), SV 21 (Mayti 8).

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