Published: March 05, 2007 11:38 am      

Coalgate stuns Latta

No. 6 Amber-Pocasset also sends Konawa Lady Tigers home

BYNG — The Coalgate Wildcats rode the solid high-low post combination of Nevada Cole and Tyler Ennis and 62 percent shooting into the Class 2A boys state basketball tournament on Saturday night at Bill Koller Field House.

Coalgate placed four of its five starters in double figures, led by guard Steve Delay’s 18 points, to knock off the Latta Panthers 63-60 in a Class 2A area elimination contest.

The Wildcats, who improved to 19-8, advance to state as the area runner-up, while Latta saw its season come to an end at 18-9. Coalgate has now won six straight playoff games since losing in district play to Tushka.

“Since districts, we’ve found ways to win,” said Wildcat head coach Taylor Wiebener. “Hopefully, we’ve made believers out of people.”

Cole, a 6-4 senior, tallied 17 points as he connected on 7-of-9 shots from the floor. The 6-2 sophomore Ennis, was 4-of-7 from the field to finish with 10 points as the pair fed each other well in high-low post situations.

“Our high-low game with Cole and Ellis was very good. They ran it like it was supposed to be run,” Wiebener said. “Latta has some big kids and I wasn’t sure how we would react, but we did very well.”

Sophomore guard Luke Palmer added 13 points on 4-of-5 shooting as he went 3-of-4 from 3-point range for the Wildcats.

The only starter not to reach double figures was Shawn Linton, but the 6-4 senior’s thunderous two-handed slam dunk with 4:24 to go in the third period may have been sparked Coalgate’s fortunes the rest of the way.

With the Wildcats clinging to a slim 31-30 advantage, Linton drove the right side of the lane and slammed the ball through the hoop, thus igniting a 7-0 Coalgate run.

The Wildcats went on to a 42-36 lead after three quarters.

But the Panthers refused to go away. Dalton Brown’s old-fashioned 3-point play to start the fourth period, capped a 7-0 Latta spurt as the Panthers pulled within 42-39.

However, Coalgate went on a run of 8-0 to secure its biggest lead of the game at 50-39 with 6:52 remaining.

Latta battled back primarily behind the play of Trevan Jimboy, who had no points and only one shot attempt before the break.

Jimboy tossed in a game-leading 19 points, all in the second half, and had 11 of the Panthers’ 24 fourth-quarter points.

He was fouled on a 3-point attempt and sank all three free shots to pull Latta within 58-55 with 2:36 to go. His driving layup then got the Panthers within 58-57 with 2:00 left.

But Coalgate hit just enough free throws (5-of-8) down the stretch to keep Latta at bay. The Panthers went scoreless on four straight possessions just before Mark Ernst sank a 3-pointer with :02 left.

Also getting to double figures for Latta was Jeremi Correll with 14 and Ernst with 12. In fact. Correll finished with a double-double as he also collected a game-high 12 rebounds.

The Panthers didn’t have a bad shooting night themselves as they hit just over 50 percent.

“Coalgate just did a better job of executing than we did. They moved the ball a little better than we did,” said Latta head coach Donnie Husband. “I think we got in a panic mode a little too early, late in the game. But you have to give Coalgate all the credit.”

GIRLS

AM-PO 50, KONAWA 40

Korie Hargus poured in a game-high 20 points to spark Am-Po to the area runner-up title and end Konawa’s season.

Sara Taylor also added 12 points for the winners, who saw the Lady Tigers tryo to make a late run.

Kelsey Howard, Erin Fixico and Kassandra McClain tallied six points each for Konawa while four more Lady Tigers (17-9) ended up with four points each.

Am-Po (23-4) hit just 20-of-40 free throws in the game, but sank a majority of those down the stretch to hold Konawa back. The Lady Tigers were 8-of-12 from the charity stripe for the game.