Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

SOUTH POINT — When the Boston Celtics won their last two NBA titles, they had a Big 3.

The was Bird, McHale and Parrish and then Garnett, Pierce and Allen.

The South Pointers don’t know if their is a championship of any kind in their season, but the have their own Big 3 in Mason Kazee, Caleb Schneider and Malik Pegram.

“That was a big win for our kids. Our kids played really hard,” said Pointers’ coach Travis Wise. “Mason, Caleb and Malik played well. They scored and they guarded well.”

Kazee hit five 3-pointers and scored 20 points to go with 6 rebounds and 6 assists. Schneider had 17 points while Pegram had 16 points, 6 rebounds and 4 steals.

Jordan Ermalovich had 6 rebounds and 4 assists for the Pointers (8-1).

Schneider scored 9 points and both he and Kazee hit 3-pointers as South Point took a 15-7 first quarter lead.

Kazee came back to drain a pair of triples in the second quarter while Pegram and Xander Dornon had 4 points each and the lead went to 34-23 at the half.

Jaylen Motley had 6 points, Mikey Johnson 5 and Aiden Mankin hit a 3-pointer to keep the Highlanders within striking distance.

Huntington made a comeback bid in the third quarter as Johnson and Montez Tubbs had 4 points each and Gunnell Hickman hit a trey.

But both Kazee and Pegram hit 3-pointers and scored 5 points  and Schneider had 4 to account for the Pointers total of 15 points and the lead was 49-39.

Huntington kept putting the Pointers on the foul line in the fourth quarter and Kazee was 3-for-3 as he scored 5 points, Jake Adams was 2-for-2 and Pegram 2-4 as he scored 4 points.

Both teams had 11 points in the quarter but five different players scored for Huntington including a 3-pointer by Mankin.

Johnson scored 13 points and Motley 11 to lead Huntington (3-3).

South Point is at Rock Hill on Jan. 4.

Huntington 7 16 16 11 = 50

South Point 15 19 15 11 = 60

HUNTINGTON (3-3): Mikey Johnson 6 0 1-1 13, Jaylen Motley 3 0 5-12 11, Malik McNeely 3 0 0-0 6, Montez Tubbs 3 0 0-1 6, Nakyn Harrell 0 0 0-0 0, Gunnell Hickman 1 2 0-0 8, Dedrick Graves 0 0 0-0 0, Aiden Mankin 0 2 0-0 6. Totals: 16 4 6-14 50. Fouls: 17. Fouled out: Motley, MeNeely.

SOUTH POINT (8-1): Caleb Schneider 6 1 2-5 17, Jake Adams 0 0 2-2 2, Mason Kazee 1 5 3-3 20, Malik Pegram 5 1 3-6 16, Josh Childers 0 0 0-0 0 Jordan Ermalovich 0 0 1-1 1, Xander Dornon 2 0 0-1 4. Totals: 21-41 11-18 60. 3-point goals: 7-13. Rebounds: 26 (Dornon 7, Pegram 6, Kazee 6. Ermalovich 6). Assists: 17 (Kazee 6, Ermalovich 4). Steals: 8 (Pegram 4). Turnovers: 22. Fouls: 14. Fouled out: None.