Tigers rally past Lions 54-39

For three and a half quarters, it looked as though Manila might pull off a shocking upset in the Gerald Jennings Invitational Tournament, but Armorel outscored the Lions 18-0 in the final 5:35 of the game as the Tigers rallied for a 54-39 victory Monday night at Manila.

The Lions jumped to a 12-7 lead in the first quarter and stretched their advantage to nine points on back to back three pointers by Tray Malone midway through the second period. Nathan Bell's three pointer with 3:10 left in the half gave the Lions a 21-13 lead, but the Tigers bounced back. Kyle Cassidy's offensive stick-back with one second left sliced the Manila lead to 23-19 at halftime.

Manila built their lead back to nine, 34-25, at the 3:41 mark of the third quarter as Levi Wallace scored eight of the Lion's 10 third period points. But the Tigers went on an 8-0 run as Cassidy connected on three consecutive buckets to go along with a Hunter Kortan lay-up to pull Armorel to within one point, 34-33, heading into the final frame.

Kyle Evans sank a pair of free throws to begin the fourth period, giving Manila a 36-33 lead, but Kortan's three pointer from the left corner tied the score at 36-36 moments later. Manila took the lead again with a bucket by Evans and a free throw from Nathan Bell, but that was the final points the Lions would score as Armorel took over, posting the final 18 points of the game to claim the victory.

Kortan led all scorers with 24 points while Cassidy scored 12 and Zac Skelton added 10 more for the Tigers.

Wallace finished as the high scorer for Manila with 10 points while Evans added nine. Jarred Burks scored eight, Malone scored six, Bell netted three, Cody Webb added two while Jonathan Helton contributed one point for the Lions.

"Our kids played a good game for three and a half quarters, but we just ran out of gas," said Manila Coach Jeral Hudspeth. "Armorel has a good team."