The Tyner Rams were on a mission Monday night.

Playing at home against the York Institute Dragons in a Sectional contest, the Rams didn't wait long to take charge.

With a trip to next week's TSSAA Boy's State Tournament waiting for the winners, the Rams earned that trip with an impressive 81-47 victory in a game that really wasn't very close.

York's Anthony Williams scored on a drive at the 5:27 mark of the first quarter to tie the score at 2-2.

Teammate Tyrell Asberry canned a short jumper in the lane two minutes later to cut Tyner's lead to 7-6, but the Rams scored 12 of the next 15 points for a 19-9 lead at the first break.

Williams bagged a 3 from the wing with 3:40 showing before the half as the Dragons were within 25-17 at that point, but the Rams quickly erased any ideas of an upset by scoring the final 12 points of the half.

The difference was 20 at the break at 37-17.

The Dragons scored six of the first seven points of the third period to get within 38-23, but the Rams kept taking advantage of their superior size, quickness and athletic ability as the margin slowly got bigger.

Tyner's lead was 60-36 when the third stanza ended.

Every player for Tyner had played and scored by that time, but the spirited Ram fans started chanting "We want Coop! We want Coop!" midway through the quarter.

Tyner called a timeout with less than three minutes remaining as senior Thomas Cooper made his first appearance.

Cooper had suffered a broken foot back in November and had just gotten his walking boot off on Friday.

He didn't play long, but the crowd went crazy when he canned a long 3 with 1:56 to play, extending Tyner's lead to 79-45.

The two teams swapped buckets in the final minute for the 81-47 final score.

York coach Derwin Wright knew his team had made a mistake early in the game.

"I knew that Tyner was a very athletic basketball team. For some reason, we tried to get in a running game with them and we didn't need to do that," he said after a post-game meeting with his players.

"We got dominated on the boards, but it didn't help that we didn't box out.

"I was hoping we'd give them a better game, but their defensive pressure allowed them to shoot way too many layups," Wright continued.

"I was proud that we came out and played hard in the third quarter as we never quit, but our hole was simply too deep at that point," he added.

Tyner coach Gerald Harris had the pleasure of watching the whole event without any pressure.

After getting thumped on the road last year at Livingston Academy, Monday's turnaround was sweet for the veteran Tyner coach.

"That was a fun game. Tonight I got to sit back and watch it all unfold. I kept telling our guys how important it was to win the Region for this very reason, but tonight we created a hostile environment of our own.

"Our guards know that we can run with anyone. When we understand what our advantages are, we play pretty well.

"That was a special moment for Thomas (Cooper). I remember when he got hurt he was saying he wanted to go to state. Now we have that opportunity.

"Our success comes from our defense. We create offense with our defense and that was the case tonight. We try to make them do things they're not used to doing. That worked to our advantage tonight," Harris added.

York, finishing its season at 20-12, got 15 points from Cody Stephens.

Asberry and Williams both finished in double figures with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

Reggie Gilmore scored 17 points to lead the Tyner attack while Jermel McKenzie was next with 13.

Travis Jones, who earned MVP honors for the Region 3-AA tournament and was a key reason for the biggest win over Howard, finished with 11 points.

Michael Bradley and Michael Fletcher both finished with nine points apiece.

Tyner is now 24-6.

York Institute 9 8 19 11 -- 47
Tyner 19 18 23 21 -- 81

YORK INSTITUTE (47) -- Asberry 11, Williams 10, Stephens 15, Maynard 4, Cook, Reynolds 4, Rains 1, Wilson 2.

TYNER (81) -- Bradley 9, Cooper 3, Fletcher 9, Gilmore 17, Jones 11, Rawls 5, McKenzie 13, Murphy 6, Suttles 4, Leverett 4.

3-POINT GOALS: York 5 (Williams 2, Stephens 3); Tyner 2 (Cooper, McKenzie).

(Email John Hunt at tnmoose2002@aol.com)

Tyner's Travis Jones puts pressure on York Institute's Gavin Cook. Click to enlarge.
- Photo2 by Michael Locke