Liberty, Haywood to play for District 15-AA title

After a change of venue earlier on Friday, Oman Arena housed a packed crowd to see the top two seeds in District 15-AA advance to the championship game.

Top-seeded Liberty knocked off city-rival North Side 80-60, while second-seeded Haywood beat its own rival Ripley 62-56.

Liberty (15-9) and Haywood (21-7) will play for the district title on Monday at 7:30 p.m., while North Side (10-12) will play Ripley (19-13) in the consolation at 6 p.m.

"We have to focus on defense and rebounding on Monday," Liberty coach Terrell Green said. "Haywood probably has the best scorer in the district in Tristan Jarrett. We have to slow him down and try to control everything else out there."

The Crusaders jumped on North Side early, taking a 21-5 lead in the first quarter, but before halftime, North Side went on a 8-0 run to cut Liberty's lead to six (38-32) at halftime.

Liberty's Demarius Bond scored a game-high 29 points, while Martavious Moore added 15. Malik Cross and Elijah Harris finished with 12 apiece.

The Indians continued to make a run in third quarter and took a 41-40 lead with 5:34 remaining, but Liberty took the lead back before the end of the quarter and scored 27 points in the fourth quarter to extend the lead out to 20.

"Teams are going to to make runs," Green said. "It showed out character in how we responded to those runs."

Dexter Pirtle led North Side with 24 points with 16 coming in the second half, while Josh Cole added 13 points.

In the first semifinal, Haywood and Ripley started slow by turning the ball over in the first half, but the Tomcats opened the third quarter on a run to a 45-30 lead with 1:07 remaining.

But Famous Jones got hot in the fourth quarter with three 3-pointers in the first 3:15 of the quarter to cut Haywood's lead to 51-45.

Jones finished with 27 points with 14 coming in the fourth quarter, while Jamari Bostic added 13 points.

But Haywood hit enough free throws down the stretch to keep the lead and advance to the title game.

"We played solid defense, but Famous Jones hit some tough shots," Haywood coach Kendall Dancy said. "We didn't help ourselves missing free throws. We made enough plays down the stretch to come away with the win."

Tristan Jarrett led the Tomcats with 15 points, while Keithon Powell and Demarius Boyd added 12 points each.

Reach Michael Odom at michodom@jacksonsun.com or 731-425-9754. Follow him on Twitter @JSWriterMichael.