Timothy Hooker had 28 points and 10 rebounds and was a perfect 10-for-10 from the free throw line to lead top-seeded Wal-Mart to a hard-fought 73-68 win over second-seeded R&R/Miller in the Natchez Recreation Department Adult Division championship game Sunday night at the Martin Gym.

&uot;I was playing for the team,&uot; said Hooker, the tournament’s Most Valuable Player. &uot;They’re the ones that carried me. It was a good game.&uot;

The Wal-Mart team, the 2001 regular-season champion, got the perfect revenge on R&R/Miller, the defending champion, regular-season runner-up and the only team that beat them, doing so twice.

&uot;I won the championship with them (R&R/Miller) last year,&uot; said Wal-Mart’s Cedric Carter. &uot;But it feels great to dethrone the champions.&uot;

&uot;It was a well-fought game. This is a good night for the Wal-Mart team,&uot; said head coach Willie Holmes, who led his team to a 17-2 record and was named Coach of the Year.

Both teams struggled offensively in the first half as Wal-Mart, led by Hooker and Marion Moore, held a slim 27-25 halftime lead.

Moore scored 10 of his 17 points in the first half.

R&R/Miller helped its cause in the first half by making 12 of 15 free throws, but made only 8 of 15 from the line in the second half.

After being held to four first-half points, Carter then got going offensively in the second half and finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

&uot;I just started being more aggressive,&uot; he said.

Jimmy Walton made five of his six three-point shots in the second half, including three in a row at one point after shooting an air ball from behind the line.

Walton finished with a game-high 31 points and also hit 9-of-11 free throws. Robin Harris had 15 points and 11 rebounds and James Rounds finished with 11 points and 12 boards for R&R/Miller, which finished the season with a 15-4 record.

&uot;We played the defending champion,&uot; said Holmes. &uot;Our rebounding, defense and clutch free-throw shooting was the difference.&uot;

After taking only four free throws in the first half, Wal-Mart finished 15-for-20 for the game.

In the tournament consolation game, seventh-seeded International Paper took a forfeit win over eighth-seeded Johns Manville 2-0 as Johns Manville only had three players show up. IP’s Willie Foster sank both free throws.

Isle of Capri won the Adult Division’s 2001 Sportsmanship Award.