By Heath Hambrick, Fort Payne Times-Journal
COLLINSVILLE – The Collinsville Panthers pulled out a 58-56 basketball victory over Fyffe on Friday, thanks to a late basket from Sam Stewart.
“I’m proud of the guys tonight. We made plays and played really hard to earn this win,” Collinsville head coach Jon Tidmore said.
Collinsville (4-2, 2-1 area) jumped out to an 11-5 lead before the Red Devils (4-5, 1-2) battled back to take a 13-11 lead late in the first quarter. The Panthers tied the game at 13 after the first period.
In the second quarter, Fyffe outscored Collinsville 20-9 to take a 33-22 lead into halftime.
The Panthers started the third quarter with a 4-0 run and then cut the Fyffe lead to three at 36-33 with 4:43 left in the third.
With 3:25 remaining in the third quarter, Collinsville took a 38-36 lead. The Red Devils entered the final quarter with a one-point lead of 43-42.
In the final quarter, Fyffe established a narrow four-point lead at 51-47 with 4:24 remaining in the game. Collinsville then reduced the deficit to just two points, making it 55-53 with only 2:22 left. The Panthers tied the game at 55 when Stewart scored with 1:54 on the clock.
With only 15 seconds remaining, Stewart made the go-ahead basket, giving the Panthers a 57-55 lead.
Collinsville was called for a foul with 1.5 seconds left, sending Fyffe’s Jaden Hammonds to the free-throw line for a chance to tie the game and send it to overtime. Hammond’s first free throw was good, and the second one was good as well, but Hammond was called for a lane violation.
Fyffe immediately fouled Collinsville twice to send Gavin Lang to the free throw line for two shots with 0.4 seconds left on the game clock.
Lang made the first free throw, bringing the score to 58-56. He missed the second, and time ran out.
Stewart led the Panthers with 19 points, followed by Lang with 18 and Sylas Adams contributing 17.
Hammonds led Fyffe with 17 points, while Stiefel contributed 12 points, and Alex Nelson added 10 points.
Girls
Fyffe 39, Collinsville 36
COLLINSVILLE – The Fyffe Lady Red Devils had to hold off a pesky Collinsville team for a 39-36 victory on Friday.
The game was a low-scoring affair with the teams tied at 6-6 at the end of the first quarter. Fyffe outscored Collinsville in the second quarter 11-3 to take a 17-9 lead into halftime.
Fyffe (6-4, 3-0) extended its lead in the third quarter, outscoring the Lady Panthers 10-2 to take a 27-11 advantage into the final quarter.
Collinsville (3-5, 0-3) battled all the way back to get to within one point at 37-36 after a three-point basket by Maelee Barkley with 3.2 seconds left in the game. The Lady Panthers fouled Fyffe’s Sam Galloway to send her to the free throw line with 2.5 seconds left. Galloway made both free throws as the Lady Red Devils escaped with the victory.
Collinsville was led by Susana Flamenco, who scored 11 points, and Jillian Toodle, who scored 10 points.
Galloway contributed 17 points for Fyffe.
