Bucs unable to overcome pair of injuries in regional final

HANCEVILLE — Jamari Blackmon had his usual big game for Hoover High School on Tuesday, which works very well when Marion Humphrey and Trey Jemison are with him on the court.

But Jemison and Humphrey were on the sideline with injuries for much of their Northwest Regional boys basketball final against Sparkman, and Blackmon’s 35 points simply weren’t enough to overcome the Senators, who won by a 70-63 score.

Jemison, who was wearing a knee brace, came up gimpy after a rebound in the first quarter. He came back for a couple of minutes later in the period and played the first five minutes of the second half, but his injury kept him from being a factor. He grabbed four rebounds and did not score.

Humphrey played the entire first quarter, scoring two points. After the start of the second period, he never returned.

“Trey consistently tried to get through his injuries,” coach Charles Burkett said. “I really feel bad for Marion Humphrey, who is a big part of what we do. I guess it wasn’t meant to be. We’ve been top-heavy the whole year, as far as our bench not being as strong…We just simply ran out of gas.”

After an even first period, the Senators opened the second with a 10-0 run, capitalizing on the absence of the 6-foot-11 Jemison in the paint. Sparkman went to halftime with a 10-point lead and increased it to 15 early in the third quarter, until Hoover finished the period with a six-point run to cut the lead to seven.

Then the deficit disappeared entirely, thanks largely to timely scoring from outside. The Bucs’ Ahman Ellington tied the game at 52-52 with a 3-pointer from the side with 4:37 left. But that was the last time Hoover was on even terms with their opponents, as Sparkman scored the next nine points and held on to the end.

Ellington added 10 points for the Bucs, and Melton pulled down eight rebounds. Hoover was also perfect at the foul line until the last minute of the game, hitting 18 straight free throws before Blackmon missed one; they finished with 21-of-23 (91.3 percent).

Blackmon and Ellington were named to the all-tournament team.

Darron Howard paced the Senators (30-4) with 20 points. Malik Tyson scored 12 points and grabbed 11 rebounds, and Carrington Simpson added 11 points.

Hoover finishes the season with a 27-4 record.