Senior John Lyman scored 17 points to lead four Mustangs in double figures, as top-seeded Meridian defeated Skyline 59-53 Tuesday night in the semifinals of the 3B Regional Tournament. With the win undefeated Meridian advances to the Regional Championship Game on Thursday, and qualifies for the Class 3 State Tournament.
This season, Northwestern District rival Skyline has come the closest to blemishing Meridian’s so-far perfect season, losing once on a buzzer-beater and just last week in overtime. Tuesday night the visiting Hawks looked strong early, jumping to a 12-6 lead.
Skyline star forward Dwayne Tucker, who had scored 29 points in a quarterfinal win over James Monroe and 35 in his team’s most recent loss to Meridian, then picked up his second foul. After Tucker went to the bench the Hawks seemed tentative, and Meridian took advantage. The Mustangs went on a 16-2 run to take a 22-14 lead.
Meridian never relinquished that lead, but Skyline kept it close the rest of the way. The Hawks crept to within six points of Meridian by halftime, and to within three points after three quarters at 43-40.
A timely 8-0 run to start the fourth effectively put the game away for Meridian, however. Junior guard William Davis started the offense with a bucket, and a few possessions later hit a beautiful fadeaway jumper in the lane. Lyman was key on both ends of the court, scoring off a feed from senior Jarrett Jardine and doing it all on defense. During the run Lyman got two steals off Skyline in-bounds passes and took a charge.
That defense by Lyman and the Mustangs (25-0) held Skyline scoreless for the first half of the final quarter, and gave Meridian a 51-40 lead. The Hawks continued to fight and whittled the lead down to one possession at 56-53, but the Mustangs made their free throws down the stretch and Skyline couldn’t score again.
Lyman had 11 rebounds to go with his superlative defense and 17 points. Davis, Jardine, and Isaac Rosenberger all finished in double-digits scoring, while junior Marques Myles gave the Mustangs a nice lift off the bench with seven points.
Junior Andre Ford led the Hawks (18-6) with 15 points and Tucker finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Skyline’s season concludes again in the regional tournament, as it did last year.
Meanwhile, Meridian, which has aspirations of continuing its undefeated season all the way through the state tournament, will take on second-seeded William Monroe Thursday at home in the 3B Final.
–Chris Jollay
all statistics are unofficial
| MERIDIAN | FG | FT | TP | REB | AST | |
| ALVERSON | 1-3 | 0-0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | |
| DAVIS | 4-10 | 2-2 | 11 | 3 | 0 | |
| LYMAN | 5-15 | 7-10 | 17 | 11 | 1 | |
| JARDINE | 3-6 | 4-4 | 10 | 1 | 4 | |
| ROSEN-BERGER | 5-7 | 1-2 | 11 | 2 | 3 | |
| Asel | 0-3 | 1-2 | 1 | 4 | 0 | |
| Myles | 3-7 | 0-0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | |
| TOTALS | 21-51 | 15-20 | 59 | 25 | 8 | |
| Threes: Myles 1-4, Davis 1-5, Alverson 0-1, Asel 0-2, Rosenberger 0-5 | ||||||
| SKYLINE | FG | FT | TP | REB | AST | |
| FORD | 6-10 | 0-0 | 15 | 1 | 1 | |
| TUCKER | 5-11 | 3-3 | 14 | 11 | 2 | |
| BURKS | 0-6 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | |
| ABUL-QASIM | 2-6 | 4-5 | 8 | 1 | 2 | |
| KERNS | 3-5 | 0-0 | 7 | 3 | 2 | |
| Haley | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Banks | 1-1 | 0-1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | |
| Logan | 1-4 | 2-2 | 5 | 3 | 1 | |
| Lockhart-Wright | 1-1 | 0-0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | |
| TOTALS | 19-45 | 9-11 | 53 | 24 | 12 | |
| Threes: Ford 3-4, Kerns 1-1, Tucker 1-4, Logan 1-4, Haley 0-1, Abul-Qasim 0-1, Burks 0-3 | ||||||