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BOYS BASKETBALL: Pershing will defend PSL title next Friday, with an 82-68 win over Frederick Douglass
DETROIT – Pershing head coach Wydell Henry said that if Pershing scores 80 points in a game, no one can beat them.
They scored two points over that, in an 82-68 win over Frederick Douglass in the PSL basketball semifinals at Cass Tech tonight. The Doughboys will be making their third straight trip to Calihan Hall Friday night.
"Douglass plays us tough every time," Henry said. "They played us tough over at their place. We only won in overtime when Tillman (Justin) hit a three to send it to overtime and we won by four."
Tillman was huge in tonight’s game as well, scoring 27 points and snagging 10 rebounds. He also had five dunks in the game, which has become the norm for him.
"This means a lot for us to be going back to Calihan Hall," Tillman said. "We wanted to come back and compete and win it all again."
The game was tied at 22-22 with 6:25 left in the second quarter, then Pershing went on a 17-3 run to close the quarter. Terrell Hales hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to make it 28-25, but Pershing Marquel Ingram responded with a 3-pointer of his own to make it 31-25.
Pershing then went on a 6-0 run, on two tip-dunks by Tillman and a buzzer beating shot by senior Dwayne Embry, to take a 39-25 lead into the half.
"I credit our zone for that," said Henry. "I said I was going to try a zone on them and it worked.
Pershing doesn’t play zone too much, but it definitely threw them off a little bit."
Henry said he especially went to a zone defense to contain Frederick Douglass star guard Darrell Davis. Davis ended up with 27 points and when his team was down big, did everything in his power to bring them back.
Pershing led by as much as 20 late in the third, then the Hurricanes got it down to 13 after three after Davis hit two 3-pointers in a row. DeShawn Sanders also got in on the action, hitting a 3-pointer to make it 62-51 with 7:00 left in the game.
Darrell is a phenomenal player," said Henry. "As I said, I coaches him for two summers and he’s a great player. But I dang want to see him anymore and I’m glad it’s over with."
Pershing proved to be too much for Frederick Douglass (9-8) at the end, going on an 8-3 run, to push their lead back to 16, at 70-54, with 3:37 remaining.
Marquel Ingram had himself a huge night for Pershing, scoring 21 points including three 3-pointers. Mory Diane added 16 points. Hales scored 21 points for Fredrick Douglass.
Pershing (16-2) will face Southeastern again for the city title next Friday at Calihan Hall. They lost to the Jungaleers by two earlier this season and Tillman will have his hands full with their two bigs.
"Douglass’ guys where smaller than me, but I can pretty much do my thing against anybody, he said. And when asked if anyone in the PSL could check him, he simply said we will have to see.
