LELAND- Deafening crowd noise and emotional reaction to every official call made on the floor characterized the Leland Cubs 64-59 comeback victory over the O’Bannon Greenwaves Tuesday night. Leland guard Jatonius Pratt knocked down a foul line jumper with 5:31 remaining in the game to tie the score at 50. On the very next play, Leland took its first lead of the game at 52-50 when Davion Wilson converted a layup off the glass. The Cubs never relinquished the lead again. “I told my team not to shy away from the moment,” said Cubs head coach Adaiah Curry. “There is an old saying that the first horse out of the gate doesn’t always win the race.”
Beating the O’Bannon pressure defense by over-the-top passing, the Cubs opened the third quarter on a quick 9-4 run to cut the Greewaves lead down to 38-33 with 4:27 remaining in the third quarter. Four of the five Cub starters scored during the run. Forcing an O’Bannon timeout, the Cubs came back onto the court with the same approach to get to within four points. Leland senior point guard Jakevious Johnson brought the home crowd to its feet by draining a three pointer from the corner with under a minute left in the third to close the gap to 41-45.
“One of the problems that has plagued us this year is inconsistency,” said Greenwaves head coach Torrione Carter. “I give Leland credit but we got away from getting the ball inside and took too many jumpers in the third quarter.”
O’Bannon jumped out to an early double-digit lead thanks to their relentlessness defense and athleticism. The Greenwaves continued their assault on Cubs' ball handlers into the second quarter as they turned Leland over on the Cubs first two possessions. This led to two quick baskets followed by one man fast break where guard Joshua Curtis shook a defender at half court Euro stepped another at the foul line and finished at the rim over a third Leland defender with beautiful reverse layup. O’Bannon stretched its lead out to 30-18 with 3:23 remaining in the second quarter. Leland settled down and began to push to pace on offense led by Pratt who scored six points in the quarter to help Leland close to 35-24 at the half.
