Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Final Loss in District Tournament To DeQueen

Gurdon's final three games on the hardwood were less then successful.

This led to an early exit in the district tournament in Fordyce for the Go-Devils, who played their two tourney games without D.D. Sheppard.

In their final regular season game against Stamps, the Devils played hard, but fell short 76-71.

On their trip to Fordyce, the Devils went down to Nashville 69-58 in the first game, and succumbed to DeQueen 79-64.

Almost every member of the Devils saw action against the Leopards, but only two were able to score in double figures. Adrian Meeks netted 12 to lead Gurdon, while Corey Marsh scored 10.

The Devils opened well, staying close at 19-16 in the first period. The Leopards pulled away somewhat in the second quarter, as they took a 36-28 lead to the lockers at the break.

In the third frame, the Devils battled back to within six at 59-53, but wee unable to find the basket consistently in the final eight minutes.

This allowed DeQueen to continue playing basketball in the regional tourney and sent the Devils to baseball, track, tennis and golf.

R. Williams led all scorers in the game with 18 for the Leopards. T. Vance added 17, D. Whitmore netted 16 and A. Lites canned 11.

At the line, the Devils were five of 10, while DeQueen was 24 of 37.

Prior to this game, the Devils were stunned 69-58 by the Scrappers of Nashville in the opening round of play in the tourney.

Gurdon won only one of the four periods in this contest, and that one by two points.

The Devils ended the first period trailing 13-11. However, Nashville put on a scoring burst to take a 35-27 lead to the lockers at the half.

In the third period, the Scrappers widened the gap as they moved the tally to 50-39, and didn't look back.

Eric Hatley ripped the cords for 15 to lead Gurdon, while Marsh was consistent with his 14.

Jared McBride was hot for Nashville as he poured in 21 points. G. Washington was next with 13, followed by J. Erby's 10.

The Devils had their problems at the line as they were only able to convert 15 of 29, slightly better than 50 percent.

The Scrappers connected on 14 of 22 from the charity stripe.

But, Gurdon's problems on the court appeared to begin in Stamps.

Before making the trip to visit the Yellowjackets, the Devils had pasted DeQueen 62-47 and were in the thick of the 7-AA conference hunt.

However, the Stamps loss ended Gurdon's title hopes.

The two squads battled to a 22-22 tie at the end of the first eight minutes of play. Gurdon stung the 'Jackets in the second period as the Devils took a 43-36 lead at the half.

The second half was all Stamps, as the 'Jacket defense held Gurdon to eight points in the third period and regained the lead at 53-51.

The fourth quarter was a track meet for the teams, with Stamps winning it 23-20.

Sheppard, in the last game he played during the year, scored 25 points. Eric Hatley followed with 14, while Wade Griffin added 13.

Stamps was led by K. Howell's 26. R. Johnson added 18, while D. Herndon netted 12. The tandem of A. Martin and J. Howard scored 10 each.

The Devils didn't make many trips to the charity stripe, and didn't shoot well when they did. In the game, Gurdon was three of nine in free throw attempts.

Stamps, however, made good on 14 of 26 free throws.