Behind Kirkwood, Chargers make splash in postseason

ACKERMAN – Fresh off a Class 3A, Region 4 championship, the Choctaw County Chargers were set to make a huge splash in the playoffs against the Mantachie Mustangs in first round action.

The Chargers led by the athleticism of OCH Regional Medical Center Athlete of the Week Akeem Kirkwood dominated the Mustangs in every aspect of the game to claim a huge victory by a final score of 67-36.

“It was a good first round win, but we’ve got a tough one coming Saturday,” Choctaw County coach Gary Beals said. “It’s going to be a very tough and competitive game, but the thing I think that’ll drive us is that we’re one win from Jackson and we get to do it at home.”

In the first quarter, it was scoreless through the first two minutes, but the Chargers broke on to the board first with a long range three from Steven Triplett at the 5:45 mark.

A minute later, the Chargers got a quick layup from Jeremy Miller followed by a slam dunk from Kirkwood to lead 7-0 at the 4:30 mark.

“It’s a great feeling to advance (Tuesday night),” Kirkwood said. “We’ve got to just come back and play our game in order to get ready for round two.”

The period ended on an 8-2 Choctaw County run with another layup from Kirkwood and 3-point field goals from Triplett and Amerious Brown and the Chargers led 15-2.

In the second quarter, Kirkwood stole the basketball and dumped it off to Brown for a quick layup extending the Choctaw County lead to 17-2 with 6:45 left in the first half.

Mantachie answered quickly with a layup, Brown kept up the production seconds later with another 3-pointer and the lead grew to 17-4 with 5:40 left in the half.

The first half ended on a 13-8 run and the Chargers were cruising 30-12 and Kirkwood led with nine points at the break.

In the third quarter, Choctaw County blasted off with a layup from Gibeau Fleming and Kirkwood to lead 34-12 at the 6:30 mark.

A run of 5-3 capped by a huge 3 from Kirkwood extended the lead for the Chargers to 39-15 with 5:15 left in the period.

Minutes later Kirkwood had added four more points in a 4-4 run pushing the lead to 43-19 at the 3:11 mark.

A 3-pointer from Devonte Miller and another long range shot from Kirkwood extended the Choctaw County lead to 49-19 heading to the final minutes of play.

In the fourth quarter, the younger Chargers saw valuable minutes and outscored the Mustangs 1817 to close out the contest.

Kirkwood led Choctaw County with 22 points.

The Chargers return to the court Saturday to play Amanda Elzy.