North Crowley wins basketball rivalry in final seconds

By Greg Bogomol

Special to the Star-Telegram

CROWLEY -- It took a running jumper from senior Jalan McCloud with five seconds left to keep the streak alive as North Crowley knocked off rival Crowley 55-53.

The jumper ran North Crowley's streak over Crowley to 12 straight games as the Panthers improved to 10-4. The last loss to Crowley came on Feb. 8 of 2000.

The streak appeared to be in jeopardy the entire game.

"He's hit about four shots like that at the end of the game," North Crowley coach Tommy Brakel said. "We like the ball in his hands. He went a little early there at the end and he did the same thing in the first half and it cost us three points there."

Crowley (2-8) appeared to have control of the game, leading 52-47 with 2:51 left.

After Torrence Neal connected on a pair of free throws, the Panthers called a time out. They forced back-to-back turnovers as they closed it to 52-51 with 2:25 to play on a 3-pointer by Nik Boone.

Kyle Wilson hit one of three free throws with 1:12 left to make it 53-51 Eagles, but North Crowley tied the game with 44 seconds left on two Boone free throws. Crowley couldn't get the ball in bounds and was called for a five-second violation, setting up McCloud's winner.

"It's a rivalry game so you can throw the win-loss record out the window," Brakel said. "Both teams played with a lots of emotion and you can't let that get to you in a game like this and I think we did."

McCloud led all scorers with 14 points and Boone and Torrence Neal added 12 apiece for North Crowley, which finished the game hitting 17 of 49 shots. Crowley was led by Dion Malone with 12 points and Daneaz Moses and Wilson had 11 and 10, respectively.

In a game that neither team led by more than seven points, North Crowley was down 22-17 with 3:57 to go in the first half. It responded by going on a 10-0 run to grab a 27-22 lead with 1:33 to go in the half.

During that run McCloud had six points. Norense Odiase and Caleb Banks had two apiece.

Crowley responded by going on a 7-2 run to close the half, including a 3-pointer by Dion Malone to tie the game at 29-29.

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