Niceville boys hoops edges Rutherford

By RANDY DICKSON

randyd@nwfdailynews.com

NICEVILLE — A third-quarter boom was followed by a fourth-quarter swoon for the Niceville boys basketball team in the Class 5A regional quarterfinals Thursday.

Fortunately for the Eagles the boom was bigger than the swoon as Niceville held on to beat Rutherford 59-51.

The Eagles (24-5) will host Choctawhatchee, a 73-71 winner over Lincoln in the regional semifinals Tuesday. It will be the fourth meeting of the teams this season with Niceville having won all three games.

As has often been the case throughout the season, the Eagles got off to a slow start in the first half and led just 20-15 at the end of the second quarter.

The slow start might have had something to do with the fact that Tory Kirkwood and Ty Friedlund sat out much of the first quarter for what coach Jerome Strutchen described as in-house disciplinary reasons.

Kirkwood and Friedlund were well-rested as the second half got underway and led a Niceville charge that saw the Eagles outscore the Rams 23-10 to seemingly take control of the game.

A pair of Robert Brooks free throws 15 seconds into the fourth quarter pushed the Eagle lead to 45-25 and the only question seemed to be by how much Niceville would win.

That’s when Darrien Mack and Darron Austin took the Rams on their backs inside the paint.

The inside duo scored all of Rutherford’s points on a 10-2 run that cut the Niceville lead to 47-33.

A basket by Kirkwood pushed the Eagle lead back to 16, but the score only temporarily stopped the bleeding.

Three-point baskets by T.J. McCray and Malcolm Owens helped the Rams close to within nine with 1:45 left.

Mack scored with 33 ticks left on the clock to make it a five-point game, but that’s as close as the Rams got.

Ramoane Jordan hit three free throws in the final 25 seconds and Kirkwood added two more as Niceville hung on for the win.

Austin led all scorers with 20 points. Mack added 13 for the Rams.

Kirkwood didn’t let the early benching bother him as he led the Eagles with 12 points. Brooks added 10.

“They didn’t give up,” Brooks said. “They came out in the fourth quarter with more intensity.

“We got a little comfortable with the big lead. We have to learn from that because we won’t able to let Choctaw back in the game Tuesday night.”

Rutherford 6 9 10 26 — 51

Niceville 11 9 23 16 — 59

RUTHERFORD (51)

McCray 5, Owens 9, Briggs 2, Mack 13, Austin 20, Jack 2. Totals 17 9 18-26 51.

NICEVILLE (59)

Ty Friedlund 9, Kody Williams 5, Zeus King 7, Gabriel Strutchen 2, Ramoane Jordan 7, Tory Kirkwood 12, Robert Brooks 10, Billy Billings 7. Totals 17 4 13-18 59.