The Monticello Billies was the host school at Dan Coston Fieldhouse on the campus of Monticello High School on Friday night for the annual “Showdown in M-Town” for three games against Drew Central in a best of three format.
Drew Central has been in possession of the Showdown trophy for the past several seasons but Monticello had their sights on reclaiming the prize with the Junior Billies and Junior Pirates taking to the court first to begin the Showdown.
The Junior Billies would take the opening tip to begin the contest and would get on the board first with Christian Webb scoring the first three points for the Junior Billies.
The Junior Pirates would get on the board with 2:27 remaining in the quarter, it would be the only points in the first quarter for the Junior Pirates as the Junior Billies outscored the Junior Pirates 10-3 in the quarter.
The Junior Billies would continue to outscore the Junior Pirates in the second quarter, outscoring the Junior Pirates 7-2 in the second quarter to take a 17-5 lead at the half.
The Junior Pirates would have a better scoring performance in the third quarter, keeping pace with the Junior Billies with each team scoring 12 points in the quarter with the Junior Billies taking a 29-17 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Junior Billies would outscore the Junior Pirates 14-13 in the fourth quarter to take game one of the Showdown, 43-30.
The Lady Billies and Lady Pirates would take to the court in the second game of the night with Monticello leading 1-0.
The Lady Billies would control the tip, but the Lady Pirates would begin the contest by going on a 9-0 run to hold a 9-0 lead with 6:11 remaining in the quarter.
Monticello would go on a 6-0 run to cut the lead to 9-6 and the teams would go on to end the quarter tied 12-12.
Neither team could gain an advantage in the second quarter as both Monticello and Drew Central would score eight points in the quarter to head to the locker room tied at 20.
Monticello would gain the advantage in the third quarter, scoring a game high 14 points in the quarter .
Monticello would hold the Lady Pirates to eight points in the third to hold a 35-29 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Drew Central would come back in the fourth quarter to take over the contest, scoring 11 points in the quarter, holding the Lady Pirates scoreless in the quarter to take a five point, 40-35 victory and evening up the battle for the trophy 1-1.
For Drew Central, Amari Lucas led the way with 19 points followed by Chloe Anderson with 12.
Kalyiah Miller added 5 and Bailey Chapman rounded out the scoring with four points.
Monticello was led by Zariyah Gaston with nine points followed by Aunesti Jackson and Shakyra Binns with eight.
Eddy Grace Birch added five, Zaniyah Thompson and Saniya Harrell with two, and Ryah Ridgell with one.
Heading into the final contest of the night with the winner to claim the Showdown in M-town title, the Billies would control the opening tip but it was the Pirates that would get on the board first on a basket by Alex Preddy.
Rohan Patel would get the Billies on the board first with a pair of free throws followed by a two point basket to cut the Pirate lead to 5-4.
The Pirates would go on to take the quarter by three points, 11-8.
Quay Rhodes would begin the second quarter for the Billies by scoring the first seven points of the quarter before Drew Central’s Blake Chandler halted the Bille scoring with a three-pointer with 3:31 remaining in the half.
It would be the only points the Pirates would score in the quarter as the Billies would outscore the Pirates 14-3 in the quarter to take a 22-14 lead into the locker room at the half.
The Pirates would return from the half and would be able to gain the momentum of the contest in the third quarter.
Quay Rhodes would score first for the Billies in the quarter with 7:38 on the clock but would not score again until the 2:56 mark.
During that time period, the Pirates would go on a 12-0 run before Gavin Trotter ended the Pirate run with a two point basket.
The Pirates would go on to outscore the Billies 18-7 in the third quarter to hold a three-point, 32-29, lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Monticello would take the lead to start the fourth quarter with the Billies getting two point baskets by Joseph Accelus, Trotter, and Patel to give the Billies a 35-32 lead.
Jeremiah Bodiford would get the Pirates within one with a free throw.
Jon Jackson connected on a three for the Billies followed with four points by Quay Rhodes.
Blake Chandler would connect on a two point shot for the Pirates to cut the Billie lead 43-35 with 4:27 remaining in the contest.
trotter’ next basket put the Billie lead up to 45-35 but Preddy cut the lead back to eight with a two under the basket for the Pirates.
The Billie lead would be cut to four points with 1:22 remaining in the contest after a pair of free throws by Bodiford made the score 48-44.
Quay Rhodes put the lead back to six in favor of the Billies with 49 seconds remaining in the contest after a two-point shot, but Chandler would cut the lead back to four with 34 seconds on the clock on a two for the Pirates.
Time was not in the Pirates favor after Bodiford connected on a three for the Pirates to cut the Billie lead to 53-51 with five seconds left in the contest.
Quay Rhodes would draw a foul with .1 seconds on the clock to end the contest on the charity stripe, connecting on both shots to give the Showdown in M-Town victory to Monticello by a score of 55-51 and winning the best out of three format.
Quay Rhodes led the way for the Billies with 27 points followed by Gavin Trotter with eight points.
Rohan Patel scored seven, Jon Jackson with five, Peyton Strickland scoring three, Joseph Accelus and Gentry Isom with two, and Jax Rawls with one.
For the Pirates, Jeremiah Bodiford scored 15, Alex Preddy with 13, and Blake Chandler with 11.
Drew Burton and Tre’Bennett each scored five, and Torian Scruggs with two.
Both schools will return to action at Drew Central for the Commercial Bank Holiday Tournament on December 27.
