Delvin Dickerson adds a free throw during a string of the 10 straight points he scored for Paris in the second half of Saturday’s 74-71 overtime loss to Navarro. (eParisExtra photo by Charles Richards)
Navarro’s Toney Foster scores to give his team a 69-69 tie with 1:35 to play in overtime against Paris on Saturday. (eParisExtra photo by Charles Richards)
Princeton Onwas scored 26 points, including five 3-pointers, as Navarro College rallied from a 64-55 deficit with 4:09 to play and went on to beat Paris 74-71 in overtime Saturday afternoon.
Delvin Dickerson led Paris with 16 points, and Eddie Leal added 11 points. Duan Wright added 14 points and Toney Foster 10 points for Navarro.
The Runnin’ Bulldogs outscored Paris 10-1 over that last 4:09 of regulation behind two 3-point plays by Onwas – one a 3-point shot and the other a two-point basket followed by a free throw.
Paris’ Antonio Arnold had a chance to extend the lead to six points when he was fouled on a 3-point shot with1:07 to play in regulation. He missed two of his three free throws, and the lead grew only to 65-61.
On Arnold’s last missed free throw, the Dragons got the rebound but missed three straight attempts around the basket and the lead remained at four points.
Wright scored four points for Navarro on two drives over the last 1:07 of regulation, and the game went into overtime when Paris’ Anthony Adams missed a 12-foot jump shot at the buzzer.
In games that go down to the wire, it’s the teams that can make their free throws that win.
After missing its first three free throws Saturday, Paris made 19 of its next 20.But in the last 1:47 of regulation and the five minutes of overtime, the Dragons went 4-of-9 while Navarro went 4-of-4.
Navarro’s Harrison Hawkins, who lives for moments like this, nailed a 3-pointer to give the Bulldogs a 72-70 lead with 1:03 left in overtime, then added two free throws with 15 seconds to play for the final margin.
Arnold’s off-balance 3-point attempt was no good with two seconds left, and Navarro grabbed the rebound and the victory.
The win was Navarro’s 16th in 18 games. The Bulldogs improved to 20-5 overall and 12-2 in Region XIV play, two games ahead of Kilgore (10-4) for the conference’s No. 1 seed for the post-season tournament, with five games left on the regular season schedule.
The No. 1 seed is more important this season than most, because Region XIV is one of four conferences with two automatic berths in the March 18-23 national tournament at Hutchinson, Kan., and one of them will go to the league’s No. 1 seed.
Paris fell to 12-13 overall and 6-8 in league play.
In overtime, Foster gave Navarro the lead, but Leal buried an NBA-range 3-pointer from the left side to put Paris ahead 68-67.
Then, in a span of 28 seconds, Anthony went to the free throw line twice for two shots. He went 1-for-2 both times.
Adams’ first 1-for-2 pushed Paris’ lead to just 69-67 instead of to 70-67. Ten seconds later, after Toney Foster had tied the game with his second driving layup of the closing minutes, Adams’ single free throw gave the Dragons only a 70-69 lead.
Hawkins had made eight 3-pointers in Navarro’s last two games, but he had misfired on all his 3-point attempts before hitting the one that broke the Dragons’ back.
Morris Mitchell was fouled with 36 seconds to play, and he went to the free throw line. He could tie the game by making both attempts, but his first shot bounced out. He made the second free throw to cut Navarro’s lead to 72-71.
With the shot clock off, Paris was forced to foul, and both of Hawkins’ free throws were perfect.
Paris needed a 3-pointer just to force a second overtime, and Arnold’s off-balance 3-point attempt just before the buzzer bounced off the rim.
Navarro came out of the gate strong. Onwas made three of his 3-pointers in the first three minutes, helping stake the Runnin’ Bulldogs to an 11-2 lead.
Paris answered with10 straight points on 3-pointers by Eddie Leal and Mike Harmon, Adams’ steal and pass to Sheldon Yearwood produced an easy goal, and Dickerson’s score on a put-back gave the Dragon a 12-11 lead.
Navarro led at the half, 37-34, but the Dragons opened the second half with eight straight points – all of them by Dickerson – in a 12-3 run that put Paris ahead 46-40 in less than five minutes. Later, a 12-4 run gave Paris its 64-55 lead .
By CHARLES RICHARDS
eParisExtra.com
Navarro (20-5, 12-2)—Harrison Hawkins 2 1 4-4 9, Jonathon Benn 1 0 0-0 2, Micah Cooper 0 0 0-0 0, Princeton Onwas 8 5 5-7 26, David Woodard 1 0 0-0 2, Toney Foster 5 0 0-0 10, Duan Wright 5 0 4-4 14, Brandon Scott 1 1 0-0 3, Terrance Syon 2 1 1-2 6, Lamark Barnes 0 0 0-0 0, Justin Phillipe 0 0 0-0 0, Jaleel Cousins 1 0 0-0 2. Total: 26 8 14-17 74. Fouls: 24. Fouled Out: None.
Paris (12-13, 6-8) – Antonio Arnold 1 1 1-3 4, Mike Harmon 2 2 2-2 8, Anthony Adams 3 0 2-4 8, Chris Jones 0 0 0-0 0, David Tucker 0 0 0-0 0, Delvin Dickerson 5 0 6-7 16, Eddie Leal 3 3 2-2 11, Lamar Walker 1 0 0-2 2, Sheldon Yearwood 3 0 2-2 8, Marcus Holt 0 0 2-2 2, Courtney Austin 0 0 0-0 0, Morris Mitchell 1 0 6-8 8, Will Ransom 2 0 0-0 4. Total: 21 6 23-32 71. Fouls: 19. Fouled Out: Dickerson.
NAVARRO 37-28-9—74
PARIS 34-31-6—71
Charles Richards Charles Richards moved to Paris in 2004 after retiring from a 40-year career in journalism – the last 26 years as a news writer and sports writer with The Associated Press in Dallas and Washington, D.C. In mid-2004, The Paris News coaxed him out of retirement, and he began covering the police, court and regional beat for The Paris News. Then in early 2005, he was switched to coverage of a sharply divided Paris City Council. He was appointed by the City Council in 2006 to the 12-member City Charter Review Commission, which extensively rewrote the outmoded document. His writing awards include two first-place awards in statewide competition for feature writing. The most recent was his 2005 story on a Paris doctor’s startling use of leeches in a successful attempt to re-attach a man’s severed ear. Over his career, Richards’ interview subjects include Alabama Gov. George Wallace, President Bill Clinton, President George W. Bush, David Koresh, Arnold Palmer, Muhammad Ali and numerous other political and sports figures. He is an alumnus of Texas Tech, where he was editor of the school newspaper. He lives in Paris with his wife, Barbara, who is retired after 30 years as a teacher and high school counselor.
follow: RSS
