GREENBRIER — Searcy’s Emaje Young scored 30 points to lead the Lions to a 63-60 victory over Vilonia on Friday in the semifinals of the Battle at the Brier.
The Lions (4-7) trailed by as many as eight points early, but used a third-quarter to seize a lead they would never relinquish.
Searcy made six three pointers and attacked the Vilonia defense, resulting in baskets inside.
“Emaje is a special player who does a lot of things for us, but we had some different guys step up tonight and hit shots for us,” Searcy Coach Jim Summers said. “We knew we would get some good looks with Vilonia playing a soft [man-to-man].”
Vilonia (5-7) had a chance to tie with three seconds left in the game, but Michael Atkinson’s long inbound pass sailed out of bounds. Searcy inbounded the ball and ran out the clock.
Young opened the fourth quarter with a steal and three point play to give Searcy a 43-38 lead. He added another three-point play with 3:26 left to stifle a Vilonia comeback. Lucas Nicholson’s three pointer got the Eagles within 61-58, but James Wade’s free throws set the final score for Searcy.
Vilona led 10-9 after Young’s three-pointer, but the Eagles scored the next seven points to make it 17-9. Atkinson’s three-pointer made it 13-9, and after two Cameron Wilkins free throws, Colton Johnson hit from 18 feet to give Vilonia an eight-point lead. Young hit another three pointer for Searcy before the end of the quarter, but Vilonia kept the lead.
Hayden Weaver’s free throws gave the Eagles a 27-22 lead late in the half, but the Lions scored the final nine points before halftime to lead 31-27. Young started Searcy’s run with an alley oop basket from Madison Wright. Anthony Arnold hit back-to-back baskets, one a three-pointer. Wright scored after an offensive rebound to give Searcy a four-point halftime lead.
Arnold chipped in 12 points while Wright had 10 for Searcy.
Wilkins led Vilonia with 26 points.
Sports, Pages 24 on 12/29/2012