Laurel boys basketball coach Marcus Price made a unique analogy Thursday night regarding his young team.
“I say they’re just now cutting their teeth like puppies,” said Price. “They’re gumming on new stuff. Having a chance to cut your teeth on a quality coached 6A team that’s playing good ball does a lot to your confidence level as a young team.”
The Class 5A defending champs fought their way back in the final quarter Thursday night to force an overtime period against 6A Oak Grove. Outscoring the Warriors in the extra period, 7-1, Laurel handed Oak Grove it first loss of the season, 68-62.
“We’re a young team,” said Price. “This is a team that doesn’t have any players with any meaningful minutes up until this year. So at this point in the season, to be 2-0 and beat a really good coached team is great. Coach Brumfield [Oak Grove coach] is one of the best coaches in the state as far as having his guys prepared.”
The two halves of regulation were near opposites.
In the first half, Laurel grabbed the lead early and held on for a quarter and a half. Oak Grove fought its way back, and at the halfway point in regulation, neither team held an advantage. Both teams collected 32 first-half points.
After the break, Oak Grove jumped ahead 40-32 after an 8-0 run. Junior shooting guard Brandon Tillery pushed the Warriors lead as far as 11 points on a big 3-point basket at the two-minute mark in the third period.
Tillery finished the game with 10 points.
Laurel, though, like Oak Grove in the second period, fought back in the final period. Senior forward Jalen Ferguson scored all 10 of his points Thursday night in the fourth period to help Laurel force the hotly contested contest into overtime.
“He was coming off of punishment,” Price said of Ferguson. “He sat the whole first half. We had to be sure we send the right message to our kids when they make mistakes. We all make mistakes, but when we do we have to pay for them sometimes, so he sat out that first half.
“He played in the second half, and it took him some time to get going. I got on him pretty rough and told him that he wasn’t giving us anything, and he needed to make some plays. And he did. He’s a heck of a player. He’s about 6’4, and he’ll have a chance to play college basketball somewhere if he stays on the right path.”
Sophomore guard Antwon Hatten led Laurel with 16 points. Hatten scored five of Laurel’s seven points in the overtime period to give Laurel its second win of the season.
“Hatten has tremendous potential,” said Price. “And he’s only a 10th grader. He has a chance to be special depending on how hard he works.”
Cameron Jones also had double-digits for Laurel, scoring 10 points in the win.
Girls Basketball Final: Oak Grove 46, Laurel 37.
Oak Grove girls improved to 3-1 on the season prior to the boys game. The Lady Warriors, led by senior guard Umava Harvey, downed Laurel, 46-37.
Harvey finished with a game-high 14 points. Other double-digit scorers for Oak Grove include Alesha Temple (11) and Jaway Baxter (10).
Janice Arrington led the Lady Tornadoes with 12 points.
Laurel falls to 0-2.
