Lanett upsets Opelika

LANETT — Lanett’s Aquendall Hughley is a big guy.

And Saturday, the 6-foot-4, 250-pound senior had a big night.

Hughley scored a game-high 19 points, including 6 consecutive in a game-breaking fourth-quarter run as Class 2A Lanett upset Class 6A Opelika, 57-47.

Lanett’s win gave it the sweep over the visiting Bulldogs as the Panthers’ girls won, 54-44.

The 10-point margin of victory on the boys side was not indicative of the way the game went.

Until Lanett put together an 11-0 run in the fourth to ice the game, the teams had traded the lead 10 different times and had things tied up nine different times.

Opelika held a 45-43 lead with 3:37 to play when Hughley tied things up with a driving layup.

He then hit a long jumper to give the Panthers the lead — a shot head coach Steven Davis said came as a surprise.

“That jump shot ... just wow,” Davis said in disbelief. “I wanted the layup, but hey — he’s a big guy but he’s got ball skills and can shoot.

“I trust all my bigs to shoot. I was worried for a minute when he let it go, but he nailed it.”

Hughley followed the jumper with another score to put Lanett up 49-45 and Marctavious Finley scored to make it a 6-point game.

That forced Opelika to begin fouling to send Lanett to the free-throw line.

The result was Lanett hitting 8-of-12 free throws down the stretch to extend its lead and seal things for good.

“We haven’t been making free throws at Lanett the past few years,” Davis said. “But we’ve spent a lot of time in practice just working on those free throws and it’s paid off.”

Opelika didn’t help itself in the clutch.

Poor defense and turnovers allowed the Lanett run to give the Panthers the lead.

Then, more turnovers cost Opelika (12-4) down the stretch. In fact, after they began purposefully fouling Lanett, the Bulldogs had just three legit scoring opportunities in the game’s final 1:09 before a flurry of desperation 3 pointers in the waning seconds missed.

“We didn’t have any trouble with their press until right there in the last minute or so. I don’t know how many turnovers we had until I watch the film, but it was a lot,” Opelika head coach John Wadsworth said, whose team has now lost two in a row. “We’ve got to go back to work and try to get this thing turned around.”

Along with Hughley’s big night, Lanett (10-5) got 17 points from Danny Griner and 12 from Finley.

Tay Calloway paced Opelika with 13 points, while David Thomas and LaDecker Johnson scored 11 each.

On the girls side, Lanett began pulling away in the third and never allowed Opelika to seriously threaten in the fourth.

Jasmine Frazier had the big night for the Panthers (10-5), scoring a game-high 18 points.

Courtney Sims added 12 points and Shamiya Hicks had 10.

Opelika (8-10) got 15 points from Jasmine Cannon and 12 from Ambria Williams.

tpeavy@oanow.com | 737-2568