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Published Saturday, January 28, 2012 in Sports

Photo by Bob Fraley

Immanuel Griggs led Newnan with 15 points, but his alley-oop slam seen above was called back on a technical foul for hanging on the rim. The Cougars led early but fell in double-overtime.

Prep Basketball: Cougars fall to Langston Hughes in 2OT

By Chris Goltermann

The Newnan Times-Herald

Newnan's boys basketball team looked well on its way to an impressive victory over Langston Hughes on Friday at home, leading by 15 points after one quarter.

Yet as most Region 2-AAAAA games have been for the Cougars, the game wasn't as much a slam dunk as the Cougars might have felt early on.

With a chance to avoid a second-half comeback by the Panthers at the end of regulation from the free-throw line, and one basket away from victory in the first overtime, Newnan's opportunity to pull out what would have been an impressive win evaporated in the closing seconds of a second extra session while falling 71-70 at the Max Bass Athletic Complex.

And this loss may have hurt even more than those previous in 2-AAAAA for the Cougars, who fell to 1-9 in the region and 10-11 overall despite a gutsy performance by head coach Rod Ladd's lineup.

But Newnan sophomore Donnell Dean was unable to convert a free-throw with 3.2 seconds in regulation and a pair of shots by Maurice Arnold in the closing seconds of each overtime period also failed to go down as Langston Hughes escaped after trailing by huge margins not long after the opening tip.

(To view or purchase photos from this game, visit http://photos.times-herald.com/mycapture and navigate to Sports / Basketball for the gallery.)

Called for technicals on opposite ends of halftime on dunks where players were questionably called for hanging on the rim, Newnan still managed to hold a lead for nearly three full quarters after jumping out to 14-4 and 20-5 leads in the first period.

The latter of the two attempted Cougar dunks set up a go-ahead free throw by Junious Prowell gave the Panthers their first lead with just over a minute remaining in the third quarter.

Newnan twice tied the game in the fourth quarter before regaining it on Kaceon Person's 3-point play with 2:35 remaining and clutch plays by Dean on an offensive rebound and Arnold on a pass to 6-7 teammate Immanuel Griggs down low gave the Cougars a 60-57 lead with less than 30 seconds to play.

Taylor Dowl's tying 3-pointer from the right corner, though, didn't let the game end, and when Dean was fouled on a hand check down low after Newnan smartly used two timeouts to work the ball down the floor, his first of a one-and-one opportunity went off the rim despite finishing with 13 points as one of three Cougars in double figures.

En route to a game-high 20 point effort, Dowl was the only Panther to score field goals in both extra periods, scoring Langston's only basket in the first overtime and then giving the visitors the lead for good on a layup in transition a minute into the second extra period.

Dowl sank two free-throws with 14.5 seconds left to take a three-point lead on a night where the Panthers were 20 of 31 from the line including 3 of 4 on the two dunk technicals by Newnan, the first of which came in the second quarter on a pretty alley oop pass from Person to Griggs.

Despite finishing with 28 field goals to Langston's 23, two desperation shots from 3-point range failed to fall in the final 10 seconds before Griggs deposited the rebound as the buzzer sounded, but one point short.

Griggs finished with a team-high 15 points in the loss. Arnold and Dean, who fouled out in the first overtime, each added 13.

Prowell scored 12 of his 16 points in the first half for the Panthers while helping the tam pull within a 37-31 deficit at halftime with a 26-point second quarter.

• • •

INDIVIDUAL SCORING

Langston Hughes 71, Newnan 70 (2 OT)

Langston Hughes (71) – D.J. Payne 4, Junious Prowell 16, Aaron Tarver 6, T.J. Sellman 16, Taylor Dowl 20, Chuka Okeke 4, Shakeez Hoffman 9. Totals 23 20-31-71

Newnan (70) – Kaceon Person 9, Darrallel Morrow 0, Rodney Tennie 0, Immanuel Griggs 15, Donnell Dean 13, Mondarius Colton 6, Maurice Arnold 13, Tray Matthews 8. Totals 28 12-20 70.

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