Boys Basketball: Rashaun Stimage’s triple-double propels Farragut past Hillcrest

Updated: January 22, 2012 7:41PM

As a defensive presence alone, Farragut’s Rashaun Stimage doesn’t have too many quiet quarters.

But Sunday at the Young Shootout, the 6-foot-7 senior forward was scoreless for much of the fourth quarter as the Admirals tried to pull out a win against Hillcrest.

The points weren’t there, but his defense never deserted him.

Stimage had two huge steals in the final minute to help preserve a 59-53 Farragut win.

“I love playing defense,” Stimage said. “Before I could score offensively, I was a defensive player. I always love to block shots, get dirty. [In the fourth], I just put my hands up, and I’m glad I got the ball.”

Stimage finished with 16 points, 13 blocks and 12 rebounds for Farragut (9-7), which got contributions from Lavell Boyd (17 points) and Deonta Terrell (15).

Javon Mooring (18 points) and Jalen Loving (12) led Hillcrest (15-4).

The Admirals clamped down defensively in the second half after allowing Hillcrest to shoot 12-for-25 in the first half. While the Hawks struggled to convert, Farragut took the lead for good on back-to-back Boyd layups at 52-49.

“We wanted to settle down defensively,” Stimage said. “We were letting guys go right past us so we said ‘Let’s settle down and ‘D’ up’ ’’

Farragut upped the lead to 54-50 following two Boyd free throws.

Fouled on a three-point attempt, Mooring drilled all three attempts. After Terrell answered with two free throws for Farragut, Stimage made the first of his two late steals to help preserve the lead.

Farragut hit 5 of 6 free throws in the final 60 seconds.

Hillcrest shot 7-for-27 from the floor in the second half and made only two fourth-quarter buckets — three-pointers from Mooring and Virgil Fleming.

“We’ve been stressing a lot executing in the clutch,” Hillcrest coach Don Houston said. “We work on it, but we need to work on it even more. You just have to do a better job executing.”

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