The Gentry High Rams basketball team’s winning ways are gathering notice among the pollsters.
Catapulted into the Super 10 Poll following last Saturday’s head-turning 70-58 victory over highly regarded Jackson Callaway High School, the Gentry High squad is now ranked No. 7 in the state, and No. 1 in 4A, among all boys’ high school basketball teams.
However, a 13-game winning streak came to an end Tuesday night on their own court when the Rams were upset 61-53 by 5A member Cleveland Central High School.
While owning a stellar 22-3, 6-0 record, there still remains important Region 3-4A business for Gentry High Head Coach Chico Potts’ squad to take care of this next week.
Those critical games begin with this Saturday’s visit to Yazoo City High School. This will be followed next Tuesday with a visit by the Greenwood High Bulldogs for the final regional action of the regular season.
Both games have a scheduled 7 p.m. tip-off.
In last Saturday’s big win over Callaway High School, currently ranked No. 8 in the Super 10 Poll and No. 3 among 5A schools, the very large crowd of fans saw the Rams use their tenacious defense and deadly accuracy at the free throw line to do in the team from Jackson.
Outscoring the Chargers in all but the third period of the game, the Rams connected on an outstanding 32-of-38 free throws to help accumulate their winning point total.
Leading the scoring for the Rams was Cartisco Brown with 27 points, 17 of which were earned during the senior’s 18 attempts at the free throw line.
Also reaching double figure scoring against the Chargers’ defense was Ernest Minton, as the senior placed 17 points on the Gentry side of the scoreboard.
In their most recent Tuesday night loss to Cleveland Central High, the visiting Wolves erupted to a 13-5 first period lead, an eight point deficit which continued to haunt the Rams the remainder of the game.
Leading the scoring for Gentry High in this game was Brown with 17 points while sophomore Ladarius Johnson contributed a dozen points to the Rams’ offensive efforts.
Other action last Friday at Shaw High School saw the Rams claim a 67-40 decision over the Hawks.
Although only up by a 32-25 margin at halftime, the Gentry squad limited the Shaw High offense to single digit scoring in each of the final two periods of play to ultimately earn their 27 point victory.
Brown again led the Rams’ scoring with 23 points while Minton and Darrius Clark added 13 and 12 points respectively to Gentry High’s point total.
