Vidalia continues dominance in District 3-3A
Published 12:05 am Wednesday, February 18, 2009
VIDALIA — The Vidalia High boys’ basketball team continued its reign of terror through LHSAA District 3-3A Tuesday with a decisive 90-49 win against Marksville Tuesday night.
The Vikings let the Tigers believe it would be a close game through most of the first half, but the second half was a Vidalia showcase of alley-oops, dunks, blocks and steals.
Marksville’s 5-2 lead would be the only one they’d have, and that disappeared early thanks to an 11-3 run by the Vikings in the first quarter.
“We didn’t want what happened to us at their place to happen again,” Vidalia coach Robert Sanders said. “We were down 18 at the half (in Marksville) and had to fight our way back. They were a dangerous team at their place.”
Vidalia was up 44-32 at the half, and that was as close as the Tigers would get for the rest of the night.
Vidalia outscored Marksville 19-9 to open the second half, and in the last eight minutes the Vikings just put on a show.
“We basically went to a zone defense, which actually surprised me,” Stewart said. “We covered the corners pretty well in that area.”
Vidalia had two steals in a row to open the fourth quarter, leading to a dunk by Torrey Dixon and a put-back by Gary Stewart after Dixon missed his second dunk attempt.
Sanders said he enjoyed the second-half performance put on by his team, even if it made him a little nervous.
“It’s fun to watch, but we’re a little cautious about that,” he said. “We don’t want anybody to get hurt.”
Even when the second string came in with three minutes left, the Vikings claimed 8 of the last 10 points scored in the game.
Stewart finished the game with 24 points to lead all scorers. Dixon added 18, Quartrell Thomas put up 17 and Rolandin Webster finished with 12.
“That’s about (Stewart’s) average,” Sanders said. “We have three guys who averaged in double figures this season, and another guy (Webster) who has started to toward the end of the season.”
Thomas had four 3-pointers in the first half, and Louis Whitley sunk two more from the arc in the fourth quarter. He finished with 8 points.
The Vikings (25-1) are still a perfect 9-0 in District 3 with one game left, at Buckeye Friday.
The last meeting between the two teams resulted in a 72-44 win for Vidalia.