King rules over Davis; Calumet advances

Updated: March 23, 2011 3:48PM

Few basketball games are ever decided in the first quarter but fate sometimes intervenes to foretell the victor.

Justin Reynolds certainly understood.

The King senior guard fired in a 55-foot shot that banked in at the first-quarter buzzer that helped the host Jaguars build an early lead it never relinquished. The host Jaguars held off a monster game by Perspectives-MSA star Anthony Davis to oust the Wolves 60-53 Wednesday night in a Class 3A regional semifinal.

"I saw the ball on the floor, I picked it up and I just tried to get a shot off," Reynolds said. "I'd never hit a shot like that before."

Perspectives-MSA star Davis scored 30 points, grabbed 17 rebounds and recorded six blocks and five steals. "That was a great shot," Davis said. "At first I thought about trying to block it, but I thought there was no way it was going in."

Reynolds' shot put the Jaguars (16-9) up 16-8 after the first period. King senior forward Darnell Fishback, who scored a team-high 19 points and had seven rebounds, scored on a floater in the lane that extended King's lead to 30-21 at the break.

After a slow start of missing six of his first seven shots and scoring four first quarter points, Davis heated up with 11 second quarter points. "I started getting more aggressive and started to get to the basket," Davis said.

,p>Reynolds scored 18 points for the Jaguars. Fishback's three-pointer and dunk energized the home crowd and gave King its largest lead, 44-33, late in the third quarter. "I thought we played smart and aggressive and as a team," Fishback said.

Davis scored 11 in the fourth quarter. He scored five quick points as the Wolves )6-19) opened the fourth quarter with an 8-2 run. Senior King guard Reggie Ruffin (seven points) drilled a three-pointer.

Perspectives-MSA suffered three critical turnovers down the stretch and could never turn the game into a one-possession game.

"It seemed that our momentum went one way and theirs the other," Perspectives-MSA coach Cortez Hale said. "I talked with the other coaches before the game and I said the one thing we couldn't do was let the crowd get into the game. Every time we got close, they had a dunk or a three-point play that got their crowd going."

Senior guard Andre Turner added 10 points for the Jaguars.

The game marked the final game for Davis, who in the course of a year went from an unknown to the No. 1 senior prospect in the country who's been selected to play in the McDonald's All-American game at the United Center March 30.

"People said I should transfer, but this has been my school and I've been with these guys since the sixth grade and I loved playing with them," Davis said.

Perspectives-Calumet 60, Phillips 46: Perspectives-Calumet earned a spot opposite King in the regional final by ousting Phillips.

Calumet senior guard Roger Stribling scored 12 of his team-high 20 points in the third quarter. The Warriors (16-9) broke open a 27-all halftime tie with a 15-2 run to start the third.

Senior forward Elijah Williams added 10 points and nine rebounds for the Warriors. Guard Jarvis Robinson scored 20 points for the Wildcats (9-16).

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