Gallery: Forest takes down North Marion in heavyweight battle

Forest’s Xavier Kirkpatrick (10) drops to the floor as he takes a loose ball away from North Marion’s Caleb Rollerson (1) and Jerdarrius Jackson (0) during a basketball game at Forest High School in Ocala, Fla. on Friday, Jan. 27, 2023. Forest won the game 63-53. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2023.

Point guard Xzavion McCoy scored 18 points and grabbed nine rebounds to lead the Forest Wildcats (17-6) to a 63-53 win over the North Marion Colts (15-6) on Friday night.

The energy at tip-off was at an all-time high as the two best boys’ basketball teams in Marion County tangled in a heavyweight battle.

“That was a good county matchup that had a big time feel to it. It was a cool environment and both sections were going back and forth so that was cool for these kids to be a part of it and compete in this type of environment,” Forest head coach Mike Hoffmann said.

The first quarter featured body shots from both teams as Caleb Rollerson opened the scoring with a rebound and a left-handed layup to give North Marion the early lead. Matt Daniels followed with the first of his three three-pointers for Forest in the opening stanza.

North Marion forward Elija Walton came up with the first highlight of the night as he grabbed a rebound from a teammates’ miss and finished with a powerful right-handed slam dunk to tie the game at eight.

The game was tied at 13 until 1:22 left in the first quarter when Xavier Kirkpatrick sank a three-pointer from the left side to give Forest a lead they would not relinquish.

After ending the first quarter with a 19-13 lead, Forest dominated the second period by a score of 14-2. McCoy, Tae Floyd and Karsen Steinbarger all scored for Forest in the second quarter to give the Wildcats a 33-15 lead at half-time.

North Marion opened the scoring in the second half on a 10-foot jumper from freshman point guard Jerdarrius Jackson. Tae Floyd would give Forest a 20-point lead on a layup with three minutes left to go in the third quarter.

North Marion answered with a 5-0 run, all five points coming from Sammie Yeanay. Forest guard Anthony Rivera would scorch the net with a three-pointer from the left side in the final seconds of the third quarter.

Things were looking dire for North Marion as they trailed by 20 entering the final period but the Colts fought back as Yeanay hit a three-pointer and was followed by a three-pointer from Titus Williams. Yeanay kept the momentum with a steal and another five-point spurt before Kirkpatrick knocked down another three-pointer.

Forest held a 19-point lead with just over four minutes left in the game but North Marion made one final push by going on a 12-0 run over the next 90 seconds.

Rollerson started the run with two layups and Jermaine Jackson followed with his first three-pointer of the night. Yeanay grabbed a steal at midcourt on the ensuing possession and drove for a tough layup. Brenden Barber ended the run with a steal and a three-point play following a foul.

With three minutes left to go, the lead for Forest had evaporated to seven.

In those tense moments is when you see the leaders step up and make plays when needed and McCoy did not disappoint as he sank four free throws in the span of 20 seconds to extend the lead back to 10.

“It was easy work because I practice free throws every day, so it was easy when it came time,” McCoy said.

Rollerson answered with a nice left-handed layup and a free throw before Floyd would put the exclamation point on the victory with a vicious two-handed slam dunk with one minute left to go.

Williams hit a last-gasp three-pointer with 53 seconds left to pull North Marion within eight but Floyd made three free throws in the final 40 seconds to secure the 63-53 win for Forest.

Floyd and Kirkpatrick finished with 15 points and three rebounds each. Daniels ended his night with nine points and four rebounds, all nine of his points coming in the first quarter.

Despite the big night from McCoy, he gave all the credit to his teammates and coaches after the game.

“My boys pulled a win out; it wasn’t just me out there. The coaching staff is great and we were all able to pull a win out,” McCoy said.

For North Marion and head coach Tim Yarn, it was a tough night from the field as they finished 1-13 from the three-point line in the first half and had to battle from a big deficit for most of the game.

“I loved the fight in the second half. We didn’t make shots to get us going and Forest was on fire. That’s the game, you have to make shots,” Yarn said.

He added: “It was a tough environment and tough game but Forest is a really good team. We knew it was going to be a tough battle and we battled all night. This type of game is going to have us battle-tested as we move into postseason play,” Yarn said.

Yeanay led North Marion with 19 points and eight rebounds. Rollerson and Williams pitched in with nine points each and Barber added seven points with three rebounds.

Friday night was the final leg of a difficult trifecta for Forest on the week as they played rival Vanguard on Monday and The Villages Charter on Wednesday, both ended with wins for Forest.

“We talked about peaking at the right time and making sure we’re playing well towards the end of the season. We’re hitting that stride now and I got to give a lot of credit to these guys that work on climbing at the right time. These guys are really focused on districts and trying to make the state playoffs to make some noise,” Hoffmann said.

North Marion returns to action next Tuesday at home versus West Port at 7:30 p.m. Forest will also be back on the hardwood next Tuesday when they host Hawthorne at 7:30 p.m.