Peachtree Ridge Wins All-Suwanee Semifinal

HOSCHTON  -- Led by junior guard Sam Stokke's 14 points, the Lions of Peachtree Ridge edged Suwanee rival North Gwinnett 57-53 in the Region 7-AAAAA boys basketball semifinals at Mill Creek High School on Friday night. The Lions will face Norcross on Saturday night for the Region 7 AAAAA tournament crown. 

 Things were better for North Gwinnett's girls, as the Lady Bulldogs defeated Mill Creek 64-51 in the region semifinals on Wednesday.  North Gwinnett faces Norcross for the region title Saturday at 4pm.     

North Gwinnett senior guard Cyrus Lavant exploded out of the gate by scoring the Bulldogs' first 9 points.  Peachtree Ridge answered quickly as guard Moe Armistead nailed a three-pointer to help get the Lions going.  Armistead then scored two more baskets as he stole a pass and broke away for an uncontested layup.

 Then, after the Bulldogs turned the ball over, Armistead weaved his way through the lane and scored.  North Gwinnett senior guard Clayton Williams responded by driving through the lane and scoring 2 of his 12 points on the evening. Williams was fouled on the play, but didn't convert the free throw.

Williams made up for it later when he nailed a three-pointer, and the Bulldogs had a 19-14 advantage at the end of the first quarter.   However, the Lions went on an 8-0 run capped off by a three-pointer by senior forward Eric Ryba to make the score 22-19 in favor of Peachtree Ridge.  Just before halftime,  Sam Stokke nailed a three-pointer to give the Lions a 33-27 lead.

 In the second half, the Lions extended their lead by as much as 10.  One crucial play happened with 3 seconds left in the third, as Peachtree Ridge shooting guard Shaq Morris hit a three-pointer and was fouled.  Morris converted the free throw, and the Lions led 46-36 at the end of the third quarter. 

North Gwinnett made a run to cut the lead to 52-51 late in the game.  Then Peachtree Ridge junior forward Bo Swanson was fouled by North Gwinnett's Williams, but a technical foul was called on  Swanson for pushing Williams  into the Lions' bench.  Swanson made his two foul shots and Williams made both of his technical foul shots as well, making the score 54-53 Peachtree Ridge. 

The Bulldogs got the ball back, but Kwesi Abakah's shot hit underneath the backboard, thanks to good defense by the Lions' Corey Heyward. Ryba got the rebound for the Lions, was fouled, and made the free throws. 

With 9.2 seconds left and down 56-53, the Bulldogs tried to run a play for the equalizer, but the ball was deflected and stolen by the Lions. Ryba made one of two free throws and the Lions won. 

 "I thought we played well. We played really hard.  I thought we lost our composure there for a minute in the second half, but we kinda overcame it and got it back together and made some big plays at the end," Peachtree Ridge Head Coach Keith Arrington said.

 "We could have played better. It was a good, tough game," Peachtree Ridge guard Shaq Morris said.  "It wasn't one of our best nights, but we finished it out, and that's good."

Morris scored 4 points on the night, all of them coming on the three-pointer and foul at the end of the third quarter. 

In addition to Stokke's 14 points to lead the Lions, Armistead and Ryba had 11 points. Heyward chipped in 7 points. Richie Everette scored 6 points, and both Benny Johnson and Brandon Jack each scored 2 points. 

North Gwinnett was led by  Lavant with 14 points, and Williams scored 12.                 

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