By MAURICE SINGLETON/Sports Writer

BAY ST. LOUIS — The Bay High Tigers (3-13) overcame a scoreless first quarter and being down by as many as 15 points in the second quarter to get a 49-48 double overtime win over Gautier (6-9) in the Bay High Christmas Tournament on Friday.

“At this point, where we’re at, you always want to look at the process,” said Bay High coach Kelton Thompson. “The process was not pretty, but we’ll take it, especially the way the kids fought back.

“I’d question what motivated them,” Thompson said of his players efforts to come back. “To be honest, sometimes we play unmotivated and uninspired. We need a few good things to happen for us. I didn’t do us any favors with the schedule. Their drive and effort in the second half and the two overtimes, it made a difference. Hopefully, this starts to turn the way we approach things.”

The Tigers tied the game on a three-pointer by sophomore Anthony Robinson at the buzzer of regulation to take the game into overtime. The Tigers never led in regulation.

The Tigers got their first lead of the game on a three-pointer by freshman Cameron Garcia in the first overtime (40-38). The Gators would tie the game at 40-40, and the Tigers would take the lead at 42-40 on a Nehemiah Sanders’ layup in traffic with 43 ticks remaining in the first overtime. Robinson missed two free throw attempts with 8 seconds remaining to secure the win, and the Gators capitalized, tying the game with a jump shot a second remaining to take the game to a second overtime.

Robinson fouled out with just over three minutes remaining in the second overtime, and things started looking dismal for the Tigers. Gautier would take a 48-42 lead. But the Tigers would find another spark, this time from a freshman, as Garcia would sink his second three-pointer (48-45).

The Tigers would turn the ball over twice before they got going again, as the Tigers pressured the Gators, forcing a turnover in the backcourt. Jaylen Antoine got fouled on a layup attempt, and he sank both free throws to put the Tigers within one at 48-47 with just under 40 seconds remaining on the clock.

Gautier would fail to sink free throws with 23 seconds remaining on the clock, and the Tigers would capitalize, attacking the basket on the offensive end, and they would be rewarded. Antoine would get fouled again, and once again, he sank both free throws with just under ten seconds remaining to close out the game’s scoring. 

Gautier failed to get off a good shot as the Tigers pressured the perimeter and secured the win.

Robinson led the Tigers’ scoring with 15 points, followed by Antoine with 9, and Garcia and Jayden Allen with 8 points each.

Dominic Bang led the Gators with 10 points, followed by Tremmane Battiste with 9 points and Armani Patterson with 8 points.

Bay High Lady Tigers 46, Petal 33

The Lady Tigers (12-5) got a huge third quarter from post player Nakeria Coleman, which opened the perimeter for a couple of three-pointers on their way to a convincing 46-33 win over Petal (7-9) on Friday in the Bay High Christmas Tournament.

Coleman sank a layup off an assist; she scored off a rebound for her second score of the period. Then she sank two free throws to give the Lady Tigers a 10-point lead (26-16). She closed out the quarter on a bank shot inside to tally eight points in the period.

“Nakeria had a big quarter,” said Lady Tigers coach Kelton Thompson. “And she’s capable of doing that every quarter. I could tell the difference in her from the first couple of possessions, the way she was posting up, the way she was rebounding out of her area. When she’s active like that, we’re pretty good.

“We’ve got to find a way to put people away,” said Thompson. “We get very casual sometimes when things are going good. We scored the ball well early, but it wasn’t out of the flow of our offense.”

During the third quarter, the Lady Tigers outscored the Lady Panthers 18-8 to take a 38-22 lead into the fourth quarter. The Lady Panthers would outscore the Lady Tigers 11-8 in the fourth period, but the Lady Tigers’ lead was never really threatened.

Kiara Burney got the Lady Tigers going early scoring 12 points in the first quarter, including three 3-pointers in the period. She would finish the game with 18 points, followed by Coleman with 10 points. Merritt Johnson led Petal with 16 points, followed by Tamiyah McCarty with 9 points.