Suffolk News-Herald

Emmanuel Jackson and Paul Clark sank two free throws in the final nine seconds to lift the Norfolk Marriott to a 47-44 victory over Mount Ararat (MA) in the opening rounds of the Sixth annual Suffolk Sheriff’s Basketball Tournament Wednesday evening at King’s Fork Recreation Center. A balanced attack carried the hotel’s squad to victory, as seven of their eight players placed entries in the scorebook, led by Joe Arca’s 13 points. Latron Demiel led MA with 13 points of his own.

After the first half ended with the score knotted at 21, Arca and Jason Moward fired in five quick points, only to see Demiel, Lamont Skeeter and Deion Skeeter toss in seven to go up 28-26 with 17 minutes to play. The teams went back and forth for the next 10 minutes, when Mishun Clark broke away for a layup and Paul completed a three-on-one fast break for a 38-35 advantage. After Lamont scored, Arca swished a three-pointer from the left side, and Darius Bailey neutralized it with one of his own.

Clarence Harrell and Mishun scored for the Marriott, but Lamont sank a jumper and Demiel a pair of free throws to get as close as 45-44 with 2:55 on the clock. A jumper from Bailey toilet-bowled around the rim and spun out, and Mishun pulled down the rebound and gunned a pass to Jackson.

Marriott went into a stall with 88 seconds to play, and MA started fouling, racking up seven in the next 1:19. With :9.4 to go, Jackson headed to the line, and sank the front end of a one-and-one. Moward grabbed the rebound and passed to Paul, who was fouled with 5.7 ticks left.

He also sank the first one-pointer, but his second fell short, and Deion rebounded for MA. He fired a pass to Demiel on the left sideline. Demiel charged toward the center of the court, and launched a long shot as the buzzer sounded. His shot bounced off the rim to the right, and Marriott had escaped.

&uot;I wanted to hit at least one of them,&uot; Paul said. &uot;I didn’t think I’d miss the second one, but I still felt confident, because I knew we would stop them.&uot; MA isn’t out of things yet; the double-elimination tournament continues at 6 p.m. today, with the Mike Duman (who sponsors the tournament) team out to defend last year’s title.

The Western Tidewater Regional Jail had an easier time of things, routing the Norfolk Jail 86-47. Deon Jones led Tidewater with 25 points, and Lawrence Wiggins added 18. &uot;I hope we can continue, but we can’t get overconfident,&uot; said Jones. &uot;That game’s behind us now – there’s a lot of good teams in this tournament.&uot;