-
Fort White guard Tafari Moe goes for a layup against Newberry's Kai Washington during Thursday's game. (MORGAN MCMULLEN/Lake City Reporter)
FORT WHITE — Tafari Moe never feels like his team is out of a game.
His belief paid off against one of the top squads in the state.
Fort White weathered a bruising performance and avenged a December loss to Newberry with a gritty fourth-quarter comeback that extended into a 52-50 overtime win at home Thursday night. The victory marks the Indians’ eighth win in nine games dating back to Dec. 8, a streak began after the Panthers' 60-44 win over Fort White on the road.
The close game could be a preview for the playoffs, with the Panthers and Indians sitting at Nos. 2 and 3, respectively, in the Class 1A rankings.
“That’s the Number 2 team in the state, so we knew it was going to be a battle,” Fort White head coach Elven Sheppard said. “Fortunately we came out of here with a W.”
Tafari Moe led the way for the Indians (12-2) with 13 points while racking up four assists and three steals, two of which came in Thursday’s fourth quarter and led to easy layups while they mounted their comeback. After forward Juwan Scippio grabbed an offensive rebound and put the ball back up and in at the third-quarter buzzer, the Panthers (10-4) held their largest lead at seven points heading into the fourth.
But according to Moe, the deficit just meant he and his teammates had to work that much harder.
“We talked about it,” Moe said. “We were just executing our plays. Coach Elven’s a great coach. That gave us the run, and we executed, and it worked for us.”
While Moe may have been the star of the show late, it was Jayden Jackson and Garrett Brady holding down the fort early for the Indians. Jackson continued his impressive campaign with the Indians after transferring in from Columbia, grabbing four rebounds and putting up four points with an assist and a steal in the first half. Brady factored into the equation with his size and length, grabbing five rebounds and scoring four points in the opening quarter before finishing the game with seven boards and a pair of blocks.
Brandon DeMartino also added 11 points, eight rebounds and three blocks, while Najeeb Smith chipped in with six points, five rebounds and three steals for Fort White.
However, the main story from Thursday’s meeting was the foul trouble each team’s star got into. The Indians forced Scippio to pick up a pair of fouls in the first quarter, forcing him to sit through the end of the first half. As Scippio, who finished with 19 points the first time the two sides faced off a month ago, sat on the bench, the Indians rolled the dice with Jackson after he picked up his third foul in the third quarter.
Both moves paid off in their own ways for Fort White: Jackson finished the game with 10 points, six rebounds, a pair of assists and three steals but had to sit after picking up his fifth foul midway through the fourth quarter. Scippio, meanwhile, wasn’t as much a menace to Fort White as he was in December, and picked up just six second-half points after going scoreless in the first.
“That was it,” Moe said of the game plan concerning Scippio. “Get him in foul trouble early, that was it.”
After going back and forth in the fourth quarter, Jackson finally fouled out with his team still down seven points and just 3:10 remaining. The Indians couldn’t quite pull the margin closer until the last two minutes. Down a bucket with 46.9 seconds left, forward Darion Brinson managed to come down with a big offensive rebound before chucking the ball up again, getting the friendly roll to tie the game up at 45 apiece. After getting a stop on defense, Fort White held for the last shot before turning the ball over with 0.2 seconds remaining. Brinson, who played big minutes following Jackson’s departure, finished with four points and a pair of rebounds.
“Kudos to Darion Brinson for stepping in and filling that role,” Sheppard said of Brinson’s effort off the bench. “He did a great job.”
Following a spinning layup from Moe to take a 51-50 lead in overtime, forward Brandon DeMartino grabbed a key defensive rebound after Newberry guard Kaleb Woods took the clock down from about 40 seconds left for a final shot. His attempt hit back iron with DeMartino getting the ball and the foul call with 2.6 seconds remaining. He hit his first foul before missing the second, forcing the Panthers to settle for a half-court shot that still nearly went in, hitting back iron and bouncing back out to secure the Fort White win.
“It shows the growth, it shows the maturity,” Sheppard said of the win. “It shows how bad they wanted it.”
The Indians are back in action Saturday night as they travel to Buchholz to take on the Bobcats (8-6) in the Gatortown Shootout at 7:30 p.m.