PURVIS – The Purvis boys’ basketball team picked up a crucial 67-54 win over rival Sumrall on Friday night.
The Tornadoes, who had struggled throughout the season, have now put together momentum as it has now won two of its last three games.
“This has been a crazy year,” Purvis coach Matthew Lofton said. “We have only played with a full roster eight or nine times. We have had multiple people deal with quarantines. We are just happy to play. I’m so happy for our seniors to finish at home with a win.”
For Sumrall, whose last win was against Purvis earlier in the season, the loss extended their eight-game losing streak.
The two teams were tied 18-18 midway through the second quarter. Purvis put together an 11-3 run, which helped the Tornados head into the half with a 30-24 lead.
At the start of the third quarter, Purvis continued to find success and held as much as an 11-point lead at 43-32. However, Sumrall began to find success at the end of the quarter with a 9-2 run to cut the deficit to 47-44.
“I felt like we had control, and then they hit a couple of big shots,” Lofton said. “That’s what good teams do. They don’t go away, and they hit big shots. At that point, it was a little back and forth. Towards the end, when we got the lead back to double digits, I felt like we could milk the clock a little bit. We were fortunate to make some shots there at the end. To win it.”
Purvis managed to maintain its offensive success by outscoring the Bobcats 18-10 in the fourth quarter.
Sumrall notably got off 38 free throw attempts, going 17-of-38. The Bobcats were led by Demond Shelby, who scored 24 points, and Patrick Williamson, who scored 16 points.
“We have to clean that up,” Lofton said. “Our shooting percentage was really high tonight. I think in basketball, shooting rights a lot of sins. Maybe it was carelessness on the boards or carelessness from foul trouble, but we were able to push through offensively because we shot at such a high percentage.
“Offensively, we put up almost 70 points tonight. We felt like we could get the shots that we wanted. We were very unselfish with the basketball. The big thing was that if we can get a couple more rebounds here and there, then I think that we can push on and win.”
Purvis was led by a triple attack from three of its seniors. Tyler led Purvis with 21 points, Gabe Young scored 15 points and Cade Brinkley scored a career-high of 12 points.
“All three of those guys are seniors,” Lofton said. “I have a special place in my heart for seniors because there is something extra about them. On a COVID year, when you look back at baseball and softball on how those guys didn’t get to finish their senior season and these guys got to and won the 589 battle against Sumrall, what more can you ask for?
“We have been growing week by week by week. Tonight, I felt like we really put somethings together. We want to play our best basketball heading into the tournament next week.”
