HANCEVILLE, Ala. — The Good Hope Raiders were back in action at Tom Drake Coliseum Wednesday afternoon as they took on the Demopolis Tigers in the Wallace State Christmas Classic. Good Hope looked to make it three straight wins against the Tigers, but Demopolis had other plans as a strong second half by the Tigers helped propel them to a 56-42 win over the Raiders.
Charlie O’Neil got Good Hope on the board with a three, but Demopolis answered right back with back-to-back threes as that gave them a 6-3 lead. A pair of K’mal Bell free throws made it a one-point game, but Demopolis went on an 8-2 run to stretch the Raider deficit to seven at 14-7. Tyler Cone trimmed the deficit to four with a three with a little over a minute to go in the first quarter, but back-to-back baskets down low by the Tigers made it a 18-10 game and the Raiders found themselves down by eight after one period.
Demopolis quickly stretched their lead to 21-10 to start out the second quarter, but a driving layup by Bell made it a nine-point game. A three-point play by the Tigers pushed their lead to 24-12, but a huge Raider run got them right back in the game. Five straight points by Bell made it 24-17, then a driving layup by Cone and a floater by Bell made it a three-point game with a little over a minute to go in the first half. The Tigers added another basket before the half to make it 26-21 and the Raiders went into the half down by five.
Good Hope couldn’t have asked for a better start to the second half as they forced numerous turnovers and turned them into easy baskets. A driving layup by Tanner Malin and a trey by Bell tied the game up at 26, but they weren’t done. Weston Hancock hit a layup and Malin added back-to-back layups to give the Raiders a 32-26 lead with a little over five minutes to go in the first half. The Tigers, though, answered right back with a 7-0 lead as that gave them a 33-32 lead. A Malin free throw tied it up at 33, but Demopolis finished the third quarter strong as eight straight points by the Tigers broke the tie and gave them a 41-33 lead going into the final period.
Things went from bad to worse for Good Hope to start out the final period as Demopolis scored the first eight points of the fourth quarter to push their lead to 49-33. A layup by Cone stopped the huge Tiger run as that made it a 49-35 contest, and later on, a layup by Tucker Malin and a pair of free throws by Tanner Malin trimmed the deficit to 12 at 51-39, but sadly, that was as close as they would get the rest of the game. The Tigers proved to be too much for Good Hope at the end as they would ended up defeating the Raiders, 56-42.
Bell led the way for Good Hope (8-5) with 14 points. Tanner Malin added 12 points. Cone ended up with seven points. O’Neil added three points, while Tucker Malin, Hancock, and Cannan Jones each chipped in with two points. The Raiders will travel to Destin, Florida, to participate in the Destin Christmas Tournament, which will start on Monday, and it will run through Thursday.
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