BY CLIFF SMELLEY
Telegraph Staff Writer
Tyrese Chandler scored 14 of his team-high 22 points in the second half and helped Lake Butler Middle School make things interesting late before the Tigers eventually lost 57-51 to Williston in the championship game of the Suwannee Middle Athletic Conference boys basketball tournament on Jan. 25 in Keystone Heights.
The second seed Tigers rallied from trailing by 14 points, but could never overtake the top seed Red Devils, who led the entire game.
Williston scored six of the game’s first eight points, but a Jackson Andersen-Davis offensive rebound led to a basket by A.J. Chandler, who was also fouled on the play. Chandler made the awarded free throw to pull Lake Butler to within 6-5.
Baskets by Andersen-Davis and Garrison Smith (off his own steal) helped the Tigers make it a one-point game, but the Devils would take a five-point lead into the second quarter.
Lake Butler missed five of its first six field-goal attempts of the second quarter as Williston build a double-digit lead. Cadenz Merriex scored off an A.J. Chandler steal to get the margin back into single digits, but the Tigers committed six turnovers in the quarter as the Devils managed to stay in front by eight to 12 points.
Tyrese Chandler scored off an offensive rebound to make it 27-17 with 1:16 left in the first half. He scored again following a Williston turnover to send Lake Butler into the break trailing by eight.
The Tigers’ first five points of the third quarter were scored by Tyrese Chandler. He then recorded an assist on a basket by A.J. Chandler, which made it a 34-26 game. Another basket by Tyrese Chandler cut Williston’s lead to six.
Andersen-Davis scored after receiving a court-length pass from Tyrese Chandler, who rebounded a Williston miss, making the score 36-30. Williston then scored four straight baskets, three of which followed turnovers.
The Devils led 44-30 when the Tigers went on an 11-3 run, which carried over into the fourth quarter. Merriex, after Tyrese Chandler blocked a shot on the defensive end, made two free throws to start the run, while Williston went 0 for 6 at the foul line to close out the third quarter. Andersen-Davis scored the first points of the fourth quarter on a layup, which was set up by a Smith assist. A.J. Chandler, after a Williston free throw, made two attempts from the foul line to make the score 45-39.
Tyrese Chandler answered a Williston basket with one of his own, which left the Tigers trailing 47-41 with 3:27 remaining.
Williston scored five straight points, including two off a field goal that followed a turnover. Tyrese Chandler got an opportunity at the foul line and made 1 of 2 attempts. He then returned to the foul line after a Williston turnover, making both attempts for a 52-44 score.
After Williston went 1 of 2 from the foul line with 1:04 left, A.J. Chandler sank two free throws, making the score 53-46.
The Devils went up by nine after making two free throws, but Lake Butler’s Aiden Mitchell drained a three-point shot to make it 55-49.
Lake Butler then missed three straight field-goal attempts before Tyrese Chandler scored the final points of the game.
A.J. Chandler finished with 11 points for the Tigers, who also got six from Andersen-Davis, five from Smith, four from Merriex and three from Mitchell.
