Middle School City Championships Set

Keelon Lawson (19 points to lead all scorers)

Craigmont got a scare from a dangerous Raleigh Egypt team. Down 16 17 points at one time during the 3rd quarter, the Pharaoahs launched a comeback fueled by the long range shooting of Brandon Taylor who had 18 points for the game. The 8th grade 2-guard hit a 3 with 1:52 left in the game to make the score 53-49 but TQ Thurman hit Courtney Smith on a nice bounce pass to put the Chiefs up, 6. Raleigh’s shots would not fall in the closing minutes and Craigmont hung on for a 56-49 win for a district championship and a place in the city championship game where they will meet Ridgeway who got the upset victory today as well over Cordova. Keelon Lawson led all scorers with 19 points. Ridgeway will travel to Craigmont for the game and it will be a 4:00 tip off.

Small School News

Airways got a win over Riverview for the 3 time this season and Humes beat Lester. Humes will travel to the Airways in what will be a pretty interesting game on Wednesday. Again, Humes at Airways at 3:30 pm on Wednesday afternoon. Good luck to both teams.

BEWARE OF RALEIGH EGYPT

Left To Right ( Deshaun Brownlee, Fatodd Lewis, Brandon Taylor)

Lets talk a little bit about Raleigh Egypt, no not the high school known all over the city for the last decade for their  really good teams. Raleigh Egypt Middle that it is, and if you didn’t know that they were good, let me tell you about some of their players. Shooter, maybe a top 5, no is a top 5 shooter in Middle School, Brandon Taylor. Taylor is the epitomy of a good shooter. If he misses 4 in a row, it doesn’t stop him from getting his shot up but if he makes one, he can make 4 or 5 in a row. He doesn’t necessarily have a spot on the floor where he likes to shoot because he can shoot it well from all over. Next we good to Deshaun Brownlee, a 5′11 bruiser type with offensive skills and the ability to rebound and compete on every possession. Last but not least, Fatodd Lewis. Talk about potential, it’s a cliche but he has it written all over him. When I saw him during the summer, he was 6′1 with limited handle and appearing without confidence but he has changed and he has grown. Grown, now he is 6′5 and playing on the perimeter and handling the rock and getting to the basket with the left hand. If he is fouled he can make free throws with his nice stroke and he can shoot the 15 footer all the way out to the 3. I would love to see him work on going to both sides as opposed to his strong side only but he is highly effective. If you haven’t seen him, make sure you get a look at him in the state tournament this weekend, sorry Coach Young, I had to let the hat out the bag. You could be seeing a star in the making a future top 10 player in this class in the city of Memphis.  They also have another 6′2 player, a leader at the point in soon to be ranked 6th grader, Antoine Bell and an attacking guard, Dejuan Mallory who can can get to the rack.  They are definitely a team to watch  this weekend and do not be surprised to see them in the final four of the state!!