Tara rally falls short against No. 9 Amite

• Published: Jan 14, 2009 - UPDATED: 6:45 a.m.

• Print
• Email
• Save
• Twitter
• Social Media

• Del.icio.us
• Digg
• Facebook
• Reddit
• 

When district play starts in earnest next week and games take on more significance, teams with high expectations will want some tests under pressure under their belts.

Amite High School is a team of that ilk, and before Tuesday the Warriors had been involved in a few battles. But undersized Tara made sure ninth-ranked (3A) Amite had to sweat one more time.

The Trojans looked dead in the water in the third quarter, down by 20 points and unable to make a shot.

But Joseph Kirk suddenly caught fire and Tara followed.

With Kirk dumping in all of his 22 points in the game’s final 12:33, the Trojans surged back to tie the game twice in the fourth quarter but a last-ditch shot fell short to allow Amite to escape with a 40-38 triumph.

“It definitely doesn’t hurt to play a game like that right before district starts,” Warriors coach Alvin Stevens said. “I like us playing games like that, even though it’s hard on the old coach’s heart. It gives us a chance to see how we’ll respond.”

Most of Amite’s response was stiffening up on defense just enough after Kirk fueled the rally pumping in three 3-pointers in a 39-second eruption in the opening minute of the fourth quarter.

On the heels of a 13-6 Tara streak to close the third period, Kirk’s sizzling touch chopped what had been a 25-5 Amite lead down to 31-27 with 7:03 left in the game.

“We got the big lead and relaxed a little bit and did a poor job closing out on their shooters,” Stevens said.

Tara (6-14) also pestered the Warriors into 10 second-half turnovers, with Trojans guard Aaron Stephenson coming up with four steals.

After Kirk shot Tara back into the game, Stephenson swiped the ball and swooped in for a layup that closed the gap to 34-31. The Warriors misfired on their end, Kirk rebounded and fed Stephenson on the fast break. Stephenson whipped a pass to Keith Broome, who jacked in a game-tying 3 at the 2:27 juncture.

That was a far cry from the first half when the Trojans missed all but one of 19 field-goal tries and trailed 19-5 at the break.

“In the first half we played a little scared,” Tara coach Larry Grantham said. “We were intimidated by their size and athletic ability. At halftime I told them we couldn’t keep playing scared or it was going to get real ugly.