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Today: Current:91	Sunday: 94/73	Monday: 94/74
Complete Forecast for  Jul 05 2008

By JOE BUIE
Staff Writer

ATHENS - "It wasn't pretty, but it's pretty fun to win."

That's how head coach Mike Marquis summed up Tyler Junior College's 83-79 road victory against Trinity Valley on Wednesday night at Cardinal Gym.

The Apaches' 17th win of the season was a struggle in large part because Jimmy Butler missed a large chunk of the first half with two fouls; backup point guard Reggie Nelson missed the second half with a hurt shoulder; and Joseph Fulce fouled out with almost six minutes left.

TJC outscored the Cardinals, 6-2, in the final 1:21 as the 6-6 Butler was Mr. Clutch for the second straight game.

In the opener, the Apache Ladies were unable to come through in the clutch as the Lady Cardinals rallied for a 67-64 victory.

Butler, who hit a game-winning jumper to beat San Jacinto last weekend, scored on a putback and added a free throw to give TJC an 80-77 lead over the Cardinals. Butler also made 2-of-2 free throws with 5.8 seconds left to ice the win and finish with 22 points.

Malcolm Thomas, a sophomore from Karnack, helped the Apaches (17-1, 11-1 Region XIV) navigate through the adversity by playing well in both halves.

Thomas, who finished with 18 points and nine rebounds, got the ball back for TJC with 24 seconds left by tying up TVCC's Trent Brownlee with the Apaches possessing the arrow.

That led to a single free throw from Butler to make it 81-79 with 21 seconds left.

The Cardinals (10-10, 5-7) went for the win on the ensuing possession, but Jay Smith threw up what appeared to be a poor shot from about 27 feet with eight seconds to play.

TJC's Jamie Vanderbeken, who had 16 points and 10 rebounds, tipped the long rebound out to Butler.

"I thought we played hard," said Marquis, whose team improved to 5-1 away from home. "We got Joseph in foul trouble. Usually, that's been chaos for us and it wasn't tonight because (William) Kossangue picked up some big minutes.

"Then we got out of rotation because Reggie hurt his shoulder. So now we're not in our normal cycle of minutes."

The game could not have been much tighter.

The Apaches led briefly by 10 a minute into the second half, but the margin was never more than five in the last 15 1/2 minutes. Trinity Valley led 70-66 with 10 minutes to play, and was up 76-74 at the 5:50 mark.

The win moved TJC into a tie for first with Paris, which lost at Navarro, 70-67.

The Lady Cardinals erased an 18-point deficit with 18 minutes to play and held TJC to three points in the final 11 1/2 minutes.

It was a tale of two halves for the Apache Ladies, who shot 56 percent before the break and just 24 percent thereafter.

"It's just that small lack of leadership - that one person that says, 'Come on, we've got to score!' Nobody wanted to score," said TJC head coach Trenia Tillis-Jones, whose team fell to 15-7 overall and 5-5 in league play. "We've got to have somebody that wants to be a go-to person in that situation."

Freshman Monica Spearman, who led TJC with 22 points, was that person much of the game. She made 10 of 14 shots, including a jumper at the 11:42 mark that put the Apache Ladies up 61-50.

The shot capped a 10-2 run for TJC on the heels of Trinity Valley's 15-0 outburst.

The Lady Cardinals (17-4, 9-1) captured their 13th consecutive win by getting hot from the 3-point line in the second half.

The first half saw the Apache Ladies outscore TVCC, 18-4, in the last 5 1/2 minutes to lead 44-30 at the break.

Sophomore Yoshica Spears ignited the rally off the bench with a jumper followed by a 3-pointer off assists from Spearman.

Spears then fed Spearman for an inside deuce before a Spearman steal led to a Kelly Stewart 3-pointer that made it 36-26.

Spearman completed the half with 15 points, five rebounds and three assists.

Trinity Valley 67, Tyler 64

TYLER - Chasity Shavers, 10; Kelly Stewart, 6; Brittany Roberson, 8; Monica Spearman, 22; Jessi Goodman, 0; Jasmine King, 4; Yoshica Spears, 5; Kim Laughlin, 2; Sonja Thompson, 4; April Murphy, 3. FG 26-63 FT 6-9.

TRINITY VALLEY - Darika Hill, 23; Jasmine Nelson, 10; Brittney Brumfield, 4; Ashley Walker, 0; Shareese Ulis, 0; DeShawna Banks, 9; Stephanie Madden, 0; Ebony Black, 15; Brianna Goss, 6. FG 27-66 FT 7-10.

THREE-POINT GOALS - TJC (6-15): Shavers (2), Stewart (2), Spearman, Spears; TVCC (6-20): Hill (4), Banks, Black.

HALFTIME SCORE - Tyler 44-30.

TURNOVERS - TJC: 16; TVCC: 19.

RECORDS - Tyler, 15-7 (5-5); Trinity Valley, 17-4 (9-1).

NEXT UP - Lon Morris at Tyler, 2 p.m. Saturday; Trinity Valley at San Jacinto, 2 p.m. Saturday.

EST. ATT. - 750.

Tyler 83, Trinity Valley 79