Brighton guard Kyron Middlebrooks brings the ball upcourt during district tournament action Tuesday night in Newbern against Liberty Tech. Photo by Jeff Ireland
Tuesday night in Newbern was not a pleasurable experience for the fans or players of two of Tipton County’s boys’ high school basketball teams.
Munford and Brighton, playing in the District 13-AAA title and consolation games, respectively, lost by a combined 69 points at Dyer County High School.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that the season is not over for either team.
Munford will host Cordova, the third seed out of District 14-AAA, Saturday at 7 p.m. in a Region 7-AAA quarterfinal game. Brighton will travel to top-seeded Arlington for another quarterfinal game, also Saturday night at 7. The teams will play each other Tuesday if they win. A loss will end the season.
Dyer County, the regular season district champs, jumped out to a 10-0 lead on third-seeded Munford, which beat Brighton last Saturday in a semifinal to get to the title game.
T.J. Buford hit a shot from half court at the first quarter buzzer to trim Dyer County’s lead to 19-10, but the lead ballooned to 25 points midway through the second quarter and the Choctaws went on to an 83-39 win.
Second-seeded Brighton trailed fourth-seeded Liberty Tech by 16 at the half and was never able to get much closer in a 77-52 loss.
In other area action:
• The third-seeded Brighton Lady Cardinals beat fourth-seeded Munford 46-35 in the District 13-AAA consolation game Monday night in Newbern.
Munford led 12-7 after one quarter before Brighton took a four-point lead at the half and never trailed again.
Four Brighton players scored in double figures, led by 14 from Sylvia Jones and 12 by DeMiyah Gatlin. Albanie Dunn and Cortayza Flowers each scored 10.
Brighton travels to Bartlett Friday night for a Region 7-AAA quarterfinal game and Munford plays at Arlington.
• The Tipton-Rosemark Academy Lady Rebels routed Christ Presbyterian Academy, the state’s second-ranked team, 67-30, last Tuesday at home in DII-A postseason action to move one win away from the program’s first state tournament berth.
Brianna Hall led Rosemark with 18 points, Jordan Allen had 12 and Raven Sims added 11.
Rosemark hits the road Friday to play Knoxville Webb in a sub-state game. The winner advances to Nashville next week to play in the DII-A state tournament. Webb ended Rosemark’s season last year.
• The TRA boys host Webb School today at 6:30 p.m.. A win there will put them in a sub-state game against Knoxville Webb on Saturday. That winner moves on to the state tournament in Nashville.
