Humboldt boys can't overcome Douglass, black out and change of venue

In the middle of what was supposed to be a Class A sectional at Douglass, a venue change was needed.

The lights went out at Douglass with 48.6 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

 After waiting around an hour, the venue was moved to Airway Middle School to finish out the final 8:48. Douglass still won 98-56 to advance to the Class A state tournament.

"In all of my years of experience, this is the first time that anything like this has ever happened to me," Humboldt coach Ron Abernathy said. "First off, you know that you are not going to forfeit, so next up is what is the resolution."

Two other options were also proposed other than moving it to the middle school. One was to wait for Hamilton game to end and move it there, and the second was for Humboldt to come back to Jackson and return Tuesday morning to finish the game.

"It was kinda crazy," Abernathy said. "For that time, I think we came up with the best resolution because we got home at 12:30 p.m. last night, and to turn around this morning and go back to Memphis was crazy. I felt like our best option was to play last night."

Airway Middle School is 8.7 miles from Douglass High School and a 20 minutes drive, according to Mapquest.com.

Douglass was leading 65-44 when the lights went out.

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