Anthony Smith goes to the rack during action Tuesday night in Brighton. Photo by Jeff Ireland
Things could not have started much worse for Munford in a District 13-AAA game Tuesday night in Brighton.
The Cardinals raced to a 22-2 lead and Munford did not make its second field goal until T.J. Buford scored with 5:10 left in the second quarter.
Things were far from settled, however.
That Buford field goal started a 17-0 run that pulled the Cougars to within three points with 1:46 left in the first half.
Munford took a 31-30 lead on a 3-pointer from Braylen Ragland with 4:46 left in the third quarter before Brighton (8-10, 2-1) righted the ship and went to a 57-47 win.
“It’s nothing I haven’t seen, we’ve been doing the same thing all year,” a clearly frustrated coach Stan Gatlin said about his team allowing Munford to get back in the game. “It’s about us not trusting what we’re told to do. I told the guards to make sure you take care of the basketball and use our press break. We were just throwing the ball everywhere. Anybody who had a jersey on we were throwing it to them … I told them to figure it out on there own because they weren’t listening to me. We figured out and started listening and did a better job of executing. Our guards have to play better, period. If they don’t we won’t have a long season at all.”
“I was telling the guards to slow it down and play at our pace,” said Brighton forward Anthony Smith, who scored 10 points in the first quarter and finished with a team-high 20. “We just have to get some momentum and play as a team and we’ll be fine in the district.”
Buford, who led Munford (3-14, 1-2) with 18 points, sparked the Cougars’ run. He scored 10 points in the second quarter, including a 3-point play. Ragland hit three 3-pointers in the second half to finish with 11 for Munford.
Kejua Dyson scored 12 for Brighton, Ladarious Taylor scored 10 and DeMaryo Gatlin also had 10.
