MURFREESBORO, Tenn. -- After the second quarter of Wednesday's Class A boys' state basketball quarterfinal, Alex Stallion and his Arts & Sciences teammates started to believe the game had already ended.
But after their 13-point halftime lead became a one-point third-quarter deficit, the Patriots realized they had to keep playing.
When they did, the result was a 49-44 victory over Harriman that puts CSAS in the state semifinals Friday morning at Middle Tennessee State University.
"When we got the lead, we started thinking the game was over," Stallion said. "Then when we started the third quarter, we realized it wasn't. No one was playing hard because we thought we'd already won the game, but we just had to turn it back up."
After a sluggish start, the Patriots fell behind in the first quarter, and the teams traded leads in the second. With Harriman ahead 17-16, Jackson Lenoir scored to put CSAS on top at the 3:12 mark, and the Patriots finished the second quarter on a 14-0 run to take a 30-17 lead into the break.
Harriman turned the tables in the third quarter, taking advantage of the Patriots' seven missed layups to take a 33-32 lead with 2:56 left in the period. Stallion responded with a 3-pointer for CSAS, which held a 35-34 lead to start the final quarter.
"That's how it's been all year long," Patriots coach Mark Dragoo said. "It's been up and down, back and forth. I just attribute that to our youth and the fact that these guys have never been to the state tournament before.
"But I thought it was big that we had the lead at the end of the third quarter. That gave us the feeling that we were in control, then we were able to play possession by possession and get some separation."
After Harriman took a 38-37 lead on a three-point play in the opening minute of the fourth, the Patriots got a layup from Sharif Cobb, and Stallion banked in a 3-pointer that put his team back in control at 43-38, but with Lenoir and Cobb in foul trouble.
Both players picked up their fifth fouls with under two minutes to play, but Harriman missed all four free-throws before Cobb sank two for CSAS. Brandon Woodruff helped seal the win for the Patriots with a long pass to Justin Austin, whose layup with 36.8 seconds left made it 49-42.
Stallion finished with a game-high 23 points as the Patriots improved to 28-7. Cobb finished with 10 points, while Lenoir had eight, with nine rebounds and three blocks. CSAS will play in the semifinals at 11 a.m. Eastern on Friday against the winner of Wednesday afternoon's game between Wayne County and Clarksville Academy.
"This feels good," Stallion said. "It's really big for us. We had a lot of people doubting us this year, even at our own school, so to get to come up here and keep proving people wrong feels great."
(E-mail Jaime Lackey at jaimenlackey@yahoo.com)
Official Basketball Box Score
Harriman vs CSAS
3/17/10 10:00 AM at Murphy Center (Murfreesboro, TN)
VISITORS: Harriman 21-11
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
04 Inman, Dimitrique... * 2-7 1-1 2-4 1 7 8 4 7 3 5 0 3 30
11 Gallaher, Darius.... * 4-9 1-2 0-2 0 1 1 5 9 3 2 0 3 32
12 Davis, Ben.......... * 1-3 0-2 1-2 0 2 2 3 3 1 4 0 2 25
15 Howard, Xavier...... * 2-7 0-0 1-1 2 2 4 3 5 1 4 0 2 26
23 Steinmetz, Michael.. * 3-7 0-0 0-4 0 8 8 2 6 0 2 0 0 16
02 Sawyer, Laquinn..... 1-2 0-0 2-4 2 1 3 2 4 0 2 0 0 12
03 Dishman, Tyler...... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 4
05 Love, Shaquille..... 4-4 0-0 2-3 1 3 4 1 10 0 0 0 1 14
10 Davis, Sam.......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0+
24 Mayton, Brice....... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
TEAM................ 1 2 3
Totals.............. 17-41 2-6 8-20 7 26 33 21 44 8 20 0 11 160
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 8-18 44.4% 2nd Half: 9-23 39.1% Game: 41.5% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 1-2 50.0% 2nd Half: 1-4 25.0% Game: 33.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 0-4 0.0% 2nd Half: 8-16 50.0% Game: 40.0% 6
HOME TEAM: CSAS 28-7
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
04 Stallion, Alex...... * 7-19 2-4 7-11 2 1 3 5 23 1 5 0 2 29
10 Dodds, Malik........ * 0-3 0-2 0-0 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 21
24 Cobb, Shariff....... * 4-10 0-1 2-2 0 6 6 0 10 1 3 0 3 29
35 Ball, Andrew........ * 1-2 0-0 2-3 0 3 3 3 4 0 4 1 0 23
50 Lenoir, Jackson..... * 3-5 0-0 2-4 2 7 9 5 8 0 2 3 0 19
02 Woodruff, Brandon... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 1 1 0 0 15
03 Ball, Michael....... 0-0 0-0 0-1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
11 Crenshaw, Ken....... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0+
14 Bowens, Jeff........ 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1
40 Atkins, Nic......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0+
42 Austin, Justin...... 1-3 0-0 2-6 3 4 7 1 4 0 1 0 1 22
TEAM................ 1 1 2
Totals.............. 16-42 2-7 15-27 8 23 31 17 49 3 17 4 9 160
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 9-20 45.0% 2nd Half: 7-22 31.8% Game: 38.1% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 0-4 0.0% 2nd Half: 2-3 66.7% Game: 28.6% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 12-19 63.2% 2nd Half: 3-8 37.5% Game: 55.6% 4
Officials: Kelvin Bowen, Keith Shadowens, Jerry Lawson
Technical fouls: Harriman-None. CSAS-None.
Attendance:
Score by Periods 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Total
Harriman...................... 11 6 17 10 - 44
CSAS.......................... 9 21 5 14 - 49