Region 7-6A: Spivery sparks George County in dramatic OT game

The George County boys are determined to protect their home court this week in the Region 7-6A Tournament.

Senior guard LaRaymond Spivery poured in 33 points to lead the Rebels to a 57-51 win over St. Martin in overtime Tuesday night.

“I had to do anything possible to come out with the win,” Spivery said. “I told them I wasn’t going to let them down and I didn’t.”

George County (20-6) will face Ocean Springs at 8:30 p.m. on Friday in the tournament title game. The Rebels are seeking their second consecutive region championship.

The first half was a low scoring affair for both teams until Spivery got going, hitting three consecutive 3-pointers to close out the scoring for the Rebels in the first half and grab a 21-19 lead at halftime.

“We had to pick up the pace,” Spivery said. “I had to do what I had to do.”

While Spivery had the big night for the Rebels, St. Martin sophomore Jariyon Wilkens proved to be the hot hand for the No. 4 seeded Yellow Jackets (15-14). Wilkens poured in 19 points on five 3-pointers.

“We knew it was going to be a fight with St. Martin,” George County coach Ron Renfroe said. “They came in and tried to slow the game down and did what they had to do. We were lucky to get the win and get to the championship game.”

St. Martin sophomore guard Roshaun Jones scored with 1:15 remaining in regulation to tie the game at 46-46.

George County tried to hold the ball to get the final shot in regulation, but the Rebels couldn’t come up with a bucket, forcing overtime.

Spivery took over in overtime, scoring seven of the Rebels’ 11 points to secure the victory.

“He’s a playmaker,” Renfroe said. “He’s going to try to find a way to get the ball. We’ll run him off the screens to try to get it to him. He finishes so well, especially at the end games and at the end of quarters.”

Hartsfield was George County’s second-leading scorer, pitching in 13 points.

Trez Kennedy also scored in double figures for St. Martin with 11 points.

Ocean Springs girls 46, D’Iberville 35: Behind 20 points from Alexis Caldwell, the Lady Greyhounds set up a title match with rival St. Martin at 7 p.m. on Friday.

Caldwell provided six important points in the second quarter to help Ocean Springs take a 23-15 lead at the half.

“I was telling her to be more offensive minded and look to shoot the ball more because she’s quite capable,” Ocean Springs coach LaShonda Smith said.

D’Iberville cut the Ocean Springs lead to 32-27 with 1:16 left in the third quarter, but that was as close as the Lady Warriors would get the rest of the way.

“The girls played well defensively and they did a pretty good job on (D’Iberville’s Casey Ferguson),” Smith said. “Defensively, I think they made enough plays. They got stops and steals and got transition buckets. That opened up the game more for us to extend the lead.”

Mikyah Mack added nine points for No. 2 seeded Ocean Springs (16-7).

Amari Carter led D’Iberville (8-16) with 10 points.

Ocean Springs 56, D’Iberville 53: Malcolm Magee hit a deep 3-pointer with 3 seconds left in the game to hold off a D’Iberville rally in the fourth quarter and win the opening boys game of the Region 7-6A Tournament in Lucedale.

D’Iberville trailed 45-35 with about 5 minutes remaining before mounting a furious comeback in the final moments. The Warriors tied the game at 53-53 with 14 seconds remaining on a basket by Clint Hawkins.

Magee’s 3-pointer proved to be the decisive play as a desperate attempt was off the mark as time expired for D’Iberville.

“Malcolm kind of struggled early on, but he is always there when we need him. He stepped up and hit that big shot,” Ocean Springs coach Matt Noblitt said. “I’m proud of all of our guys. We’ve been having problems in the second half of games and you saw it tonight. We kind of just kept fighting, played hard for 32 minutes.”

Ocean Springs (13-12) will play George County in the title game at 8:30 p.m. on Friday. D’Iberville will play St. Martin at 5:30 p.m. on Friday.

St. Martin girls 55, George County 50: Daphane White scored 16 points, all in the second half, to lead the Yellow Jackets past the Lady Rebels.

Nyjarra Avant added 10 points for St. Martin (17-11).

Reagan Husband and Marshea Grayson both had 17 points for George County.

St. Martin will play Ocean Springs at 7 p.m. on Friday in the girls’ title game. George County will play D’Iberville at 4 p.m. on Friday.

This story was originally published February 14, 2017 at 10:54 PM with the headline "Region 7-6A: Spivery sparks George County in dramatic OT game."