DEMOPOLIS &8212; John Essex High School came into their Tuesday night game against the Akron High School Rams at a seeming disadvantage.

With the exception of their one big man, the Hornets were undersized. But the small band from John Essex had been there before in almost all of their games this season and the group used hustle, ball skills and a never quit attitude to even the field.

And it work too &8212; at least for the first half when the Hornets Went tit-for-tat against a Ram group that dominated the boards. To make up for the Hornets picked the Akron team&8217;s pocket regularly and used turnovers to keep the score relatively even as they trailed by only seven, 35-28, at the half.

So in the third period, Parker began substituting to find the right group to counteract the Hornets&8217; disruption. Early on in the second half the Rams found that the best way to stop the annoyance was to return the favor, and as the Rams began forcing turnovers the Hornets feels steadily behind.

Akron ended the third period with almost double their score from the first half, putting up 31 points to John Essex&8217;s 10 and putting the tally at 66-38 heading into the fourth. The final period was more of the same, and the rams ended the game up 35 points, 87-52.

With the second half explosion, the Rams had five players in double digits: Corey Elliot with 17, McArthur Williams with 13 and Vincent Terry, Bertha Davis and Kenneth Scott, all with 12.

The two leading scorers for John Essex never gave up for the duration of the game, and, while they didn&8217;t get a win, they came away with good numbers. Jack Rainey had 16 points, four rebounds, four assists and two steals, while Zachary Fluker had 14 points, four rebounds, two steals and three assists.