MANDARIN – An historical North versus the South battle occurred in the Hawks nest Monday evening as Kirby Smith, the North Division champions arrived waged an all out war against the undefeated and South Division champions host Mandarin in the Duval County Middle School boys basketball semifinals.
Going into the game Kirby Smith head coach Antwan Lewey knew that the rematch against Mandarin would be different. “We beat them in a close game before but this game is in a different environment.”
Kirby Smith defeated the Mandarin Hawks 47-44 as Najia Moody led the Comets with 17 points and his twin brother Zaire Moody would score 8 points.
Joey Witt and Harris would lead Mandarin with 12 points a piece while Tillman would score 7 points.
Najaj Moody would set the score a blaze when he scored the first shot disturbing the Mandarin defense.
After back-to-back scoring from the Comets, Thomas would toss up a seemingly perfect three-pointer skyrocketing the Hawks onto the scoreboard. An aggressive Kirby offense would eventually outscore Mandarin 21-8 during the first quarter.
A tougher and more poised Mandarin would emerge in the second quarter shaking down the Comets offense with a hard pressed man-to-man defense. Taking advantage of the Comets distressed offense and missed shots, the Hawks would outscore Kirby by a narrow 10-9 margin closing out the first half of the game with Kirby Smith leading Mandarin 29-20 at the half.
With time winding down, the Hawks and the Comets clashed into a seemingly formidable head on collision in the third quarter. Harris clawed into Kirby’s offense ripping rebounds away and charging through the Comets unmanned zone.
Both teams would score eleven points each closing out the third quarter as Kirby Smith maintained its nine point lead at 40-31 to end the third.
The Comets began the fourth quarter running a full court press against the Hawks. The up close and personal Kirby defense would lead to numerous Mandarin possessions and free throw line visits.
The Hawks would continue to close the gap, allowing Kirby only a narrow 45-41 lead with 43.8 seconds left in the game. Mandarin would ultimately fall short of the big play surrendering the crown to Kirby.
Mandarin head coach Lavoris Mobley would exclaim, “Our boys fought a tough, hard game to the end. They did not give up, we fell a little short.”
Kirby Smith will match up with Stilwell in the city championship Wednesday at 7:30 at Andrew Jackson; while Mandarin and Landmark will meet at 4:30 in the third place game.
