Tift teams take region doubleheader from Camden County

Published 11:00 pm Friday, January 21, 2022

TIFTON – Region 1-7A basketball teams are on edge again. The Tift County Blue Devils are back in the race.

Tift won its first conference game of the season Friday night, 57-50, defeating Camden County. Earlier, the Lady Devils ran their 1-7A mark to 3-0 with a 66-36 shellacking of the visitors.

“Hopefully that will let folks know we aren’t going to lay down and just let you have the region,” said head coach Tommy Blackshear. The Blue Devils are the defending champions.

Camden should have had the momentum in the third quarter and especially the game, but never could establish it.

After Will Clark connected on a turnaround jumper with 8 seconds in the half to give the Devils a 30-25 lead, Tristian Emerson hit a three at the buzzer. Further, Samaj Parker made the first two points of the second half. The 30-25 lead was 30-30 at 7:22 in the third.

But instead of the Wildcats surging, it was Tift.

“We played a great third quarter,” he said. “That was one of our best.” Offense and defense played well, Blackshear said.

Torrance Galmer made a three at 7:05. A minute later, Henry Gebhart was contemplating a jumper by the Devils’ bench. He saw room on the baseline, then more when no one checked him. Gebhart sank the basket, then Clark hit a jumper of his own.

Galmer made another three, then Gebhart was fouled on a breakaway, resulting in two free throws and the ball after it was deemed intentional. When Davis Byrnes fed Galmer on a three by the cheerleaders at 3:05, Tift was now ahead 45-30.

Earl Murray briefly broke up the party for Camden, but Tyler Parker got the basket back at 2:15.

The score was 47-33 going into the fourth. Fortunately, the margin was enough.

Gebhart made the lead its largest at 50-33. Now, it was Camden’s turn and the Wildcats were trying quickly to made up for what they surrendered a period earlier.

DeNigel Cooper closed the gap to 55-48, but there were only 22 seconds left.

Christian Jones knocked down a pair of free throws with 20 seconds remaining. Cooper had a last basket, but there wasn’t enough time to get any closer.

It took time for the Blue Devils to get going Friday. Camden was up 3-0 when Ty’Quan Mills opened scoring with a pair of free throws midway through the first period. Sixty-five seconds later, Clark hit two from the stripe for their first lead.

Parker made a pair of treys in the first, the last right before the horn, giving Tift an 11-9 advantage.

Once they began scoring, that portion of the game got easier for them. Gebhart, Mills and Jones scored in a 7-3 run. At 3:13, the score became 26-19 when a short shot by Parker turned into an assist when McKyler Horne put it back.

“No doubt,” Blackshear said, when asked if Camden was the most complete game his boys had played all year. “Especially against somebody our level. We have played pretty good games against the smaller schools, but definitely our best effort [against a 7A team].”

There are still things to work on, he said. Blackshear wished they could have closed a little stronger, but the third quarter set the Devils up for success and they were able to work to the finish.

Parker and Galmer scored 12 each for the Blue Devils, who are now 1-2 in 1-7A. Gebhart added 11 and Clark scored 9.

Josh Croft scored 11 for the ‘Cats, all in the first half.

LADY DEVILS 66, CAMDEN 36

It was not the best shooting first half for Tift. Passing was great, according to the coaches, and the play was sound. The ball just refused to find the inside of the net.

What they did have in their favor was a 27-20 lead and a load of confidence. Just keep shooting, their coaches told them.

The coaches were right. The Lady Devils were not just better in the third quarter, but better than their average shooting percentage. They began the quarter with a 14-0 run, more than enough to carry the day.

Braxton Gipson started the third quarter fireworks with free throws, then a three-pointer, then another. Shakiria Chaney and Mya Cushion combined to add six more. Three minutes into the frame, 27-20 was now 41-20.

Camden tried to work its way back in. Andrea Seay scored 4 of her team-high 17 in a span of 40 seconds. Tai Graham and J’mya Albertie also scored during an 8-5 run. Unfortunately for the guests, there were just too many Lady Devils making shots.

Tift finished the third on a 7-0 tear, a Tamyra Carter three-pointer and 4 points from Faith Hillmon, the last two of which were an offensive rebound that came a split-second before the clock hit all zeroes.

The Lady Devils went to their deepest bench early in the fourth canto. They made their marks as well. Trinity Hill scored twice and, on three straight possessions, a Tift player missed a shot, only for a hustling teammate to clean up the rebound for more points.

Tift started strong, taking a 10-0 lead over the first 4:40. Cushion made the first four points, then Gipson rained down her first three-pointer.

Camden shook this off, narrowing the margin to 12-8 before Carter finished the first with a bank shot three.

The Lady ‘Cats hung around in the first, but did a bit better in the second, briefly going ahead at 16-15.

Seay was responsible for all of it, a bank three, a shorter basket, then another shot from deep at 5:31. Before anyone could start thinking about an upset, however, it was Gipson to the rescue off a Maggie Harrelson offensive rebound and assist.

The three-pointer changed the score to 18-16. The hole expanded again for Camden. Carter stole the ball, passed to a streaking Gipson, who passed back to Carter for a lay-up. Gipson had another five points during the surge, which hit 11 consecutive Tift points in three minutes.

All Camden could do was made a jumper and free throws and hope that Tift’s outside shooting stayed as cold as the weather outside after intermission. It did not, allowing the Lady Devils to stay undefeated at home this year.

Gipson scored a season high 19 points for Tift, doing so in only 17:30 of game time. Carter scored 13 points and Chaney netted 9.

Both Tift teams will play Coffee on Saturday night in non-region action. Varsity action begins at 6 p.m.

Seay scored 17 for the Lady Wildcats. Virginia Shorts scored 8. No other Camden player had more than 4.