Americus-Sumter County takes two region wins over Sylvester Worth County
By Joe Whitfield
Sports Editor
SYLVESTER – Sumter County’s Anthony Tyson grabbed a full-court inbounds pass and laid up two points with four seconds remaining Friday night to give Sumter County a 56-53 win over Worth County in Sylvester. Tyson hit a free throw for the final point but the winning basket overcame a huge last-minute rally from Worth County to help the Panthers secure the third seed heading into the region tournament.
The Sumter County win gives the Panthers an 8-15 record overall, but 6-4 in the region, second behind top-seeded Dodge County and second-place Fitzgerald. The Rams fell to 14-8 overall and 6-4 in the region and will be the fourth seed in the region tournament.
Friday night’s game ended with great heroics on both sides that kept fans biting their nails and jumping up and down.
A technical foul against the Worth County bench sent Sumter County’s Austin Davis to the free throw line with 1:29 remaining and he hit one of the two shots to put the Panthers up 53-46 and the Panther fans began singing the “Hey, Hey Goodbye” song.
However, Worth County senior Adrian Hayes swished a long three-pointer with less than a minute to play and after a timeout, Worth County’s Ashton Williams stole the inbounds pass from the Panthers, threw to Hayes who laid up two more points, and was fouled. Hayes then hit the free throw to tie the score at 53-53 with 5.9 seconds to play. The large hometown crowd roared with approval.
Moments later the Worth County euphoria was gone when Tyson took the inbounds pass and put up the two points for the winning basket.
Tyson led Sumter County with 20 points, Mike Terry scored 16 and Davis finished with 11.
Shermon Smith led the Rams with 20 points, James Raymond put in 12 and Williams added 11.
The No. 9-ranked Sumter’s County’s girls (16-7, 9-1) ran out to a 33-14 halftime behind 15 first-half points from point guard Jesstynie Scott and beat the Lady Rams 63-48. Worth County outscored the Lady Panthers 22-15 in the third quarter and closed the gap to just 10 points on a three by freshman Mikhayla Stephens but that was as close as the Lady Rams could get.
Scott finished with 38 points to lead Sumter County and Jy’Niah Edwards added eight.
Jaraiah Williams led the Lady Rams with 22 points, including 12 of 13 free throws. A’mya Garmon and Shyanne Bolden added six each for Worth County.
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