Bay Springs was sure of its second half plan: stop Stringer shooting guard Haden Boyd behind the arc. Boyd’s first-half three-point shooting spree – which included six total – kept Stringer in a back-and-forth shootout with the Bulldogs.
Bay Springs held Boyd to just one basket behind the arc in the second half and defeated its county rivals Friday night 77-70 inside Stringer’s gymnasium.
“Stringer shot the ball extremely well, especially in the first half,” said Bay Springs boys basketball coach Corey Mackey. “We went in at halftime and decided that we had to stop them from shooting a bunch of three’s. Our kids accepted the challenge, and we were able to stop them from behind the arc in the second half.”
Both teams showered the first half point total with 13 three-point basketballs. Stringer drained nine of the 13 from behind the arc, including six from the hands of Boyd.
Bay Springs lead Stringer at the half, 41-40.
The senior guard sank another near the six-minute mark in the third stanza. It was his last from behind the arc on the night.
Anthony Wheaton and Kevin Grimes answered with three-pointers of their own to keep Bay Springs ahead. Wheaton a sophomore, and Grimes a junior lead Bay Springs with 19 points a piece in the rivalry contest.
“That is our normal game as of late,” Mackey said. “Kevin is averaging about 24 points a game, and we have other players [such as Wheaton] who steps up and contributes. Normally we have three guys in double figures.”
And so was the case Friday night. Senior guard/forward Austin Sigsworth finished in double digits as well with 16 points.
The lead changed hands 20 times in the course of the game. It swapped hands for a final time Friday night midway through the final period when Wheaton drained his fifth and final three-point basket that gave Bay Springs a 65-64 lead.
Mackey said the three-point baskets by his team all night were critical.
“Our three-point shots play a big factor in the game for us tonight,” stated Mackey. “I knew with Stringer playing at home that they were going to hit some three’s. We just needed to hit a few ourselves to stay in the ballgame, and eventually pull it out in the end.”
Bay Springs outscored Stringer, 12-6, in the remaining four minutes to deliver Stringer just its third loss thus far.
“We are trying to pull everything together before we head into division play,” added Mackey. “It’s coming together slowly.
“We need more intensity on defense. We seem to just walk around on defense sometimes, and we don’t rebound as we should right now. We’re the type of team that steps up when we have too. We need to find a way to do that all the time.”
Boyd led Stringer with a game-high 28 points.
Bay Springs improves to 9-1 overall. Stringer falls to 9-3.
Girls Game
Jada King and Kaitlyn Ellis scored in the double digits Friday night to lead Bay Springs past Stringer in the girls game, 54-27.
King finished with a game-high 13 points for the Lady Bulldogs. Ellis finished with 12.
Katelyn Green led Stringer in scoring with 11 points.
Bay Springs improves to 2-7 overal, while Stringer falls to 0-11.
