Martin’s big fourth quarter seals Rebels’ victory over Austin-East
By Ken Lay
For much of his team’s game against Austin-East Wednesday night, West High School forward Devyn Martin was sitting on the bench plagued by foul trouble, keeping him relatively quiet.
Martin was whistled for a fourth foul early in the third quarter, sending him back to the Rebels’ sideline.
While he sat, West High and the Roadrunners were embroiled in a tightly contested game. When Martin returned in the final frame, he made a rapid and huge impact, scoring 10 of his 15 points in the Rebels’ 77-59 victory over the Roadrunners in Marble City. His offensive production keyed a late 21-8 run over the final eight minutes of the contest.
“In the fourth quarter, Devyn was huge,” West coach Tommy Eggleston said. “It was important for us to learn to play without him because he’s going to get into foul trouble again.”
In Martin’s absence, guard Jailon Hill shouldered the bulk of the offensive load for the Rebels, who improved to 12-3 on the season. Hill finished with a game-high 30 points and was one of four West players to post double figures in the scoring column. Kevin Jack and Robert Shuler finished with 11 points each.
It was the Rebels’ second victory over Austin-East this season. West defeated the Roadrunners (5-11), 71-50, on Friday, Dec. 13, in the Battle of the ‘Ville at Fulton High School, but Eggleston said that Austin-East has improved since the first meeting between the two teams.
“That was a different Austin-East team than the one we saw at Fulton,” Eggleston said. “They weren’t scared of us and they took the game to us. They gave us all we wanted and more.
“(Austin-East coach) Dernard (Bertram) has really done a good job over there. They’ve really improved, and I think we got them tired.”
The game was close throughout. West led 16-13 at the end of the first quarter. The Rebels extended their advantage to 37-30 by halftime, and had a 56-51 lead heading into the final frame.
The Roadrunners trimmed their deficit to 54-51 when D’Andre Hundley converted a three-point play with 24.9 seconds remaining in the third stanza.
Demarcus Johnson led Austin-East with 16 points. Lorrione Winton had 12 for the Roadrunners, who were scheduled to host Fulton Saturday.
Lady Roadrunners run past West: Tymirrianna Brown scored 26 points and Daleyah Brown added 12 to lead Austin-East over the Lady Rebels 71-27 Wednesday night at West High.
The Lady Roadrunners darted out to a 29-4 lead in the first quarter and never looked back.
Austin-East held the Lady Rebels to just three field goals over the first 16 minutes of the contest. West made its first shot from the floor when Layina Holbert scored with 7 minutes, 26 seconds remaining in the second stanza. Holbert scored five points for the Lady Rebels.
