MALDEN -- An old-fashioned three-point play proved to be the difference in Friday night's see-saw battle between South Pemiscot and Malden.
Following a timeout, South Pemiscot's Darius Johnson penetrated to the basket and made a contested shot with 33.7 seconds remaining, breaking a tie before sinking his free throw.
Malden attempted four 3-pointers and burned three timeouts on its next offensive possession, but South Pemiscot escaped with a 60-57 road victory after a fadeaway 3-pointer by Malden's Dushawn Butler, released along the baseline near his own bench, made contact with the rim but did not fall as the final buzzer sounded.
"They made it really tough on us late in the game," Malden coach Andrew Halford said. "We called three timeouts on baseline out-of-bounds plays trying to get a good look, and they still kept us from getting the look we wanted, which is a credit to their defense late."
Early on, the Green Wave (10-3) appeared to be in control. They built a 23-11 lead by the end of the first quarter and increased their lead as large as 34-20 with about 2 minutes left in the first half.
South Pemiscot cut the deficit to 36-28 by halftime and found a way to move ahead 47-44 by the start of the fourth quarter.
The Bulldogs (9-4)nincreased their lead as large as 57-48 with 3 minutes left in regulation before Malden scored nine straight points to tie things at 57 with 1:02 remaining.
Johnson followed with the final field goal of the game to seal the deal in the closing minute.
"It was crazy," South Pemiscot coach and Poplar Bluff native Mike Kilgore said. "I knew Malden was going to be fast and physical. They've got some big guys. But when you play hard, things can shift just like that. When you play offense and defense the momentum will shift. We were trading baskets but once we started getting stops, we were able to do our thing on offense more often."
All three players that finished in double digits for South Pemiscot hit at least one 3-pointer.
Johnson, who recorded all of his team-high 20 points after the first period, hit all three of his 3-pointers after halftime.
South Pemiscot junior Kevin Burton and junior Jamarea Rogers both added 16 points. Burton, who hit a 3-pointer in the first quarter, recorded 14 of his points before halftime. Rogers, who hit a 3-pointer in the third and fourth quarter, tallied a dozen of his points after halftime.
"We played a little more zone tonight than usual," Halford said. "They didn't really hit anything the first half, but the second half they really got going from the perimeter. They did a good job of knocking down shots when it mattered."
Malden 6-2 senior forward Broddric Annesser recorded 17 of his game-high 23 points in the first half.
"He was a big reason why we were able to get out to a lead," Halford said. "But we couldn't close out the second quarter and we went from being up 14 to up eight points at halftime. That may have been the difference in the game tonight."
Malden senior forward Chience Booker and Butler finished with 13 points each. Booker, who hit three of his team's four 3-pointers, scored all of his points before halftime.
"They did a good job defensively against him and we did a bad job offensively finding him when we needed to score late in the game for whatever reason," Halford said.