Apalchee falls to Randolph-Clay in State AA semifinal play in Macon

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Posted 6:18AM on Friday, March 5, 2004

Macon - Lancie Cannon scored 24 points and Chris Jackson 21 as unbeaten Randolph-Clay beat Apalachee 70-to-54 in a Class AA boys state semifinal Thursday. Randolph-Clay (31-0) will play Carver-Atlanta in Saturday's championship game. Carver-Atlanta defeated Manchester 68-to-53 in tonight's semifinal. Randolph-Clay (31-0) had runs of 11-0 and 10-0 in the first half to build an 18-point lead, and Apalachee (22-8) never got the margin lower than nine points after that. Tyler Whatley scored 19 points for Apalachee, which lost in the state semifinals for the second straight year. The Red Devils led 40-22 at the half and Apalachee opened the third quarter with a 9-Oh run to cut the lead to nine. The Wildcats got as close on one other occasion. Shamaine Dukes added 14 points for Randolph-Clay. In the nightcap, Carver-Atlanta's Taj McCullough scored 22 points, including 13 in a pivotal third quarter. After a back-and-forth first half, McCullough sparked a 17-4 run to open the third quarter to put Carver ahead for good. Lakeves Prather scored 16 points and Korvotney Barber 15 for Mancherster (24-4), which trailed by as many as 22 in the third period before cutting the lead to nine on Barber's basket from the lane with just over two minutes to play. But Carver hit 10-of-12 free throws to close out the win. The Panthers go for their first state title since 1969 on Saturday. (Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)