Malone caps stellar regular season with win No. 22

MALONE – Wherever they’ve played this season, the Malone Tigers have been virtually unbeatable.

At home, however, they’ve been literally unstoppable, as they completed a perfect home season Friday night with a 62-49 win over a game Cottondale Hornets’ squad.

Malone (22-3) capped off a brilliant regular season campaign with its eighth straight win and 14^th in the last 15 games, thanks largely to a monster effort from junior center Ty Baker.

Baker had 21 points, 19 rebounds, and seven blocked shots for the Tigers, while brother, Chai Baker, added 13 points, and Antwain Johnson 10.

The Tigers overcame a 6-point third quarter deficit with a 12-1 run to end the period, and used another superior defensive effort to notch their sixth win in as many tries against Jackson County opponents.

“It’s kind of been our trademark this year that when we really need to get some stops, we’re able to do that,” Malone coach Steven Welch said after the game. “I think you have to give Cottondale credit. They played with more intensity than we did in the first half. Fortunately, I thought we picked it up a lot in the second half, and Ty did a great job of blocking and changing some of their shots in the paint.”

Jerrod Blount scored 20 points to lead the Hornets, while DJ Roulhac had 13, and Brandon Franklin nine.

Cottondale (18-5) lost the first match-up with Malone 65-50 on Nov. 25, and it appeared the Hornets were in for another long night at the start when the Tigers jumped out to a 13-2 lead midway through the first period.

But the Hornets settled in to cut the margin to eight at the end of the quarter, and then took advantage of some poor Malone shooting to dominate the second.

After a Ty Baker put-back gave Malone a 22-13 lead, Cottondale went on a 15-3 surge to close the half and take a 28-25 lead.

Roulhac made a pair of free throws, and then Franklin converted a fast-break lay-up after a long Malone miss to make it a 5-point game.

After another Tigers miss, Roulhac raced the ball up the court and found Franklin for a corner 3-pointer to make it 22-20 with 4:03 left in the half.

The Hornets tied the game on a steal and basket by Blount, who then gave Cottondale its first lead of the game on a pair of free throws to make it 25-23.

A dunk by Ty Baker to start the second half got the Malone crowd back into it, but a driving finish by Roulhac and a 3-pointer by Blount gave the Hornets their biggest lead of the night at 33-27.

CHS led 36-31 after a driving bucket by Roulhac, but a banked in 3-pointer by LaDarius McElroy sparked a game-changing run for the Tigers.

Four straight free throws by Austin Williams and Antwain Johnson put Malone in front 38-36, and a 3-point play by Chai Baker put the Tigers up five with just over a minute on the third quarter clock.

The momentum carried over into the fourth for Malone, with two free throws and a drive by McElroy making it 50-41 with five minutes remaining in the game.

Franklin answered with another 3-pointer to cut the lead to six, but the Tigers stormed back with 10 straight points to put the game out of reach.

An offensive put-back by Ty Baker made it 53-44, and a lay-up by McElroy put the Tigers back up double figures at 55-44 with 1:55 to play.

Malone then got the transition game kicked into high gear, as Cottondale crashed the offensive glass and the Tigers took advantage with back to back lay-ups by Johnson to make it 59-44 with 1:12 to play.

Despite the final margin, Cottondale coach Chris Obert said his team was unquestionably better Friday than in the first meeting.

“I thought we played harder and played tougher this time, and I was proud of them for that,” he said. “When (Malone) went up 13-2, it would have been easy for us to roll over, but we fought back and I’m really proud of that. We just hit a bad spot late in the third quarter and early in the fourth, and that was the difference.”

The gym was a packed house, as fans came out to see the two hottest teams in the county square off, both of whom were riding winning streaks of at least six games and both of whom recently completed perfect district seasons.

“This was a great environment to play in. This is what you play for,” Obert said. “(Malone) is a really good club with a really good coach, and there’s no shame in losing to them. We really wanted to beat them, but we just came up short.”

While Cottondale still has two heavyweight road games against Chipley and Marianna this week to finish the season, Malone is now done until the District 1-1A tournament, which is still two weeks away.

The Tigers haven’t lost since falling to undefeated 2A Alabama powerhouse Barbour County on Dec. 30, and haven’t lost to a team from Florida all season.

They’ll be an overwhelming favorite in the district tournament and one of the favorites to make it to Lakeland for a shot at the 1A state championship.

“We know what’s out there,” Welch said of the postseason possibilities. “We’re definitely carrying some momentum right now. We know what’s out there for us, but we don’t want to get ahead of ourselves. We have some definite goals in mind, but we have to continue to work hard to achieve those goals.”