They finally got to finish the District 6-AA basketball tournament on Thursday night.
While the air on the outside was quite frigid, the action inside Red Bank’s Susan Ingram Thurman Gymnasium was anything but as there were upsets in both championship games.
The third-seeded Brainerd Lady Panthers, who had beaten second-seeded Tyner in a Saturday semifinal, proved it wasn’t a fluke as they beat the top-seeded Central Lady Pounders by a 46-44 final.
Shortly afterward, the second-seeded Central boys upended top-seeded Brainerd by a 60-59 final.
The Tyner girls beat East Ridge by a 36-29 final in the first consolation game in the biggest margin of victory while the Red Bank boys needed an overtime before slipping past Hixson, 78-77, in the second consolation contest.
All eight teams advance to the Region 3-AA tournament, which begins with girls semifinals on Monday and the boys to play on Tuesday. The top two teams will host while the third and fourth-place teams will travel.
The coaches will meet in Loudon on Friday afternoon to work out the final details.
BRAINERD GIRLS 46, CENTRAL 44: The Lady Panthers scored the first six points of the game and had a 12-4 lead when the first quarter ended, but things got a whole lot closer in the next three quarters.
Central scored 13 of the first 17 points in the second quarter, but a three-point play by Ebony Calloway allowed the Lady Panthers to remain ahead by a point at 19-18 when the halftime horn sounded.
Rebekah Hill got hot in the third quarter and scored nine of her 15 points during that span, but Calloway and Jumeka Brown both scored in the final 37 seconds as Brainerd remained ahead by a point at 30-29 with eight minutes remaining.
Darius Hixson scored on a layup with 1:48 to play as Central’s lead stretched to 44-40, but Jamee Ward canned a key 3 with 90 seconds to play before Brown sank two free throws with 50 seconds left to give Brainerd the lead for the last time.
Central had one final possession, but Calloway’s block with 16 seconds left gave the ball back to Brainerd and Ward hit the second of two free throws with 2.6 seconds left to seal the win for the Lady Panthers.
“That was a great game as we made some big plays when we needed to,” said Brainerd coach Tyrus Ward shortly after the game ended and his team had improved to 14-12 overall.
“It was a somewhat sloppy game, but we’ve been through a lot of adversity this year and they went all out today. We’ve been working to get others girls to step up when Jamee got in foul trouble and that was the case today.
“Jumeka Brown really did a nice job, but we had active hands on defense and that was a key. But I must admit that I felt somewhat relieved when the Sylman girl fouled out,” he said, referring to Central’s leading scorer Sandrea Sylman, who went to the bench with her fifth foul with 3:45 remaining in the game.
Central coach Rick May felt like his girls maybe didn’t handle the pressure late like they needed to.
“That’s what a district championship is supposed to be like, but we didn’t play very well at the end. We were up by three with two minutes to play. We panicked and rushed things a little bit as Brainerd just kept coming and coming.
“But we left everything we had out on the floor. It came down to layups and free throws. Brainerd hit theirs and we missed too many of ours, but we just didn’t take care of the basketball when the game was on the line,” he added.
Brown was the leader for the Lady Panthers as she finished with a double-double, including 17 points and 11 rebounds.
Calloway and Keniah Watkins were also in double figures for Brainerd with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Calloway also grabbed nine rebounds as Brainerd won the rebound battle by an unofficial 32-27 tally.
Ward was limited to just seven points, but the junior sharp-shooter had a reason as she had suffered a broken nose in the quarterfinal game against Red Bank last Thursday.
She was forced to wear one of those uncomfortable face masks, which threw things off, but she also got in foul trouble and spent most of the third quarter on the bench.
Hill and Sylman both scored 15 points to lead the Central effort with Hill grabbing 13 rebounds and Sylman eight.
Central is now 14-6 for the season.
CENTRAL BOYS 60, BRAINERD 59: This is the fourth time these two teams have played and the series is now even at two games apiece. But on a night when the stakes were the highest, the Purple Pounders prevailed in the closest game between these two thus far.
Marques Tipton scored six straight points to help Brainerd knot the score at 14-14 when the first quarter ended while Demba Sow’s two free throws with 1.9 seconds left allowed the Panthers to remain ahead by 28-25 at intermission.
Brainerd’s biggest lead of the game came midway through the third quarter when Kentrell Evans’ baseline drive extended the Panther lead to 38-33 with 4:16 showing.
Central then got hot and scored 11 of the next 14 points for a 44-41 advantage when the final stanza began.
The score was tied twice and Brainerd got to within one point four times in the final quarter, but the Pounders made big plays on both ends at critical times to keep the top-seeded Panthers in the chase mode.
Ryan Montgomery and Tre Tiller both sank a free throw in the final minute to extend Central’s lead to 60-56 before Tipton’s 3 right before the buzzer made the final margin one point.
Central coach Rick Rogers was somewhat worried about how his team might play after only practicing once in the last four days. Maybe he needs to give his guys more time off at critical times so they’ll be better rested, but he was all smiles when this one ended.
“What a game,” the veteran coach suggested before the post-game awards were passed out.
“Both teams played their hearts out, but it’s been a long road for us as this is only our fourth win over Brainerd in the 25 years I’ve been at Central. I can’t begin to tell you how proud I am of these guys, but we got embarrassed by 31 points at their place and I guess we were just more loose tonight.
“We put a lot of time and effort into reaching this point and we hope that we’ll get to play them again next week,” added Rogers, who managed to keep his sport coach and necktie on the entire game.
Brainerd coach Lavar Brown echoed similar feelings.
“Both teams played really hard and I hope we get to play them again, but I just wish that the kids could determine the outcome of the game,” he began after his team had lost for only the sixth time in 25 games.
“Central was able to get a couple more loose balls and that may have been the difference in the game, but we had a few shots that just didn’t fall. I can’t fault our effort as my guys play hard every time out, but we’ll be ready on Tuesday and we just hope for Round 5 on Thursday,” Brown suggested.
Montgomery scored 18 points to lead Central, despite not scoring at all in the first quarter. Jamichael Poole and Terron Hayes were next with 13 points while Tiller finished with nine.
Tipton had 18 to lead Brainerd while Da’V Moore – pronounced Dah-Vee – followed with 11 points and a dozen rebounds.
Brainerd had an unofficial 27-19 edge on the boards.
TYNER GIRLS 36, EAST RIDGE 29: The Lady Rams finally pulled away in the fourth quarter as Sam Maffett set the pace for Tyner with 13 points. Porchia Turner was next with 10.
Jayla Stone was tops for East Ridge with 11 points while Kyhonah Lawrence and Micheala Moore followed with nine and eight points, respectively.
RED BANK BOYS 78, HIXSON 77 (OT): Jamel Davis sank two free throws with 6.1 seconds left in overtime as Red Bank was able to win at the end of the extra period.
JaQuay King hit his first charity toss with 2.1 seconds left for the Wildcats, but this second one that could have knotted the score and forced another overtime, was off the mark.
Malik McConnell was tops for Red Bank with 20 points while Malik Davis was next with 14 and Tradayal Autry with 10.
Chandler Abbott was tops for Hixson with 18 points. Braven Morton was next with 15 while Justice Alameda and Tavarus Weaver both finished with 12.
GIRLS ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM: Jamee Ward, Ebony Calloway, Jumeka Brown (Brainerd); Sandrea Sylman, Rebekah Hill, Markisha Davis (Central); Jayla Stone, Kyhonah Lawrence (East Ridge); Porchia Turner, Sam Maffett (Tyner).
GIRLS ALL-DISTRICT 6-AA: Sandrea Sylman, Markisha Davis, Rebekah Hill (Central); Porchia Turner, Sam Maffett, Jerri Christopher (Tyner); Jamee Ward, Ebony Calloway, Jumeka Brown (Brainerd); T.T. Staten (Hixson); Deshayla Rice (Howard); Jasmine Simpson (Red Bank); Jayla Stone, Sharmayne Moon (East Ridge); Coach of the Year: Katrich Williams (Tyner),
BOYS ALL-TOURNAMENT: Jamichael Poole, Terron Hayes, Brian Billingsley (Central); Da’V Moore, Marques Tipton, Kentrell Evans (Brainerd); Malik Davis, Malik McConnell (Red Bank); Chandler Abbott, Braven Morton (Hixson).
BOYS ALL-DISTRICT 6-AA: Kentrell Evans, Marques Tipton, Da’V Moore (Brainerd); Ryan Montgomery, Tre Tiller, Terron Hayes (Central); Kevin Cameron, Daaron Mastin, Jeremy Elston (Tyner); Malik McConnell, Tradayal Autry (Red Bank); JoJo Tillery, Kevin Blair (East Ridge); Sayyid Muhammed (Howard); Chandler Abbott (Hixson); Co-Coaches of the Year – Nike Fite (Red Bank) and Lavar Brown (Brainerd)
GIRLS CONSOLATION SUMMARY
EAST RIDGE 12 4 6 7 -- 29
TYNER 6 13 4 13 -- 36
EAST RIDGE (29) – Stone 11, Martin, Toney, Moon 1, Lawrence 9, Moore 8.
TYNER (36) – Benford, Parks 2, Conyers 2, Melton 2, Maffett 13, Christopher, Smith 7, Turner 10.
3-POINT GOALS: East Ridge 1 (Stone); Tyner 1 (Maffett).
BOYS CONSOLATION SUMMARY
HIXSON 22 14 14 21 6 -- 77
RED BANK 14 25 20 12 7 – 78
HIXSON (77) – Alameda 12, Nelson 7, Abbott 18, Weaver 12, Morton 15, King 5, Bradley 8, Buckner 2.
RED BANK (78) – Suttles 8, M. Davis 14, McConnell 20, Hawthorne 6, Autry 10, J. Davis 4, McGahee.
3-POINT GOALS: Hixson 5 (Alameda 2, Weaver, King, Bradley); Red Bank 1 (McConnell).
GIRLS CHAMPIONSHIP SUMMARY
BRAINERD 12 7 11 16 -- 46
CENTRAL 4 14 11 15 -- 44
BRAINERD (46) – Ward 7, Brown 17, Ashley, Price, Watkins 10, Sparks, Calloway 12.
CENTRAL (44) – Hixson 2, Ransom, Davis 6, Miller, Sylman 15, Denton 6, Kelly, Hill 15.
3-POINT GOALS: Brainerd 1 (Ward); Central 5 (Sylman, Denton, Hill 3).
BOYS CHAMPIONSHIP SUMMARY
CENTRAL 14 11 19 16 -- 60
BRAINERD 14 14 13 18 -- 59
CENTRAL (60) – Tiller 9, Billingsley, Hayes 13, Montgomery 18, Benford 7, Poole 13, Lane.
BRAINERD (59) – Sow 2, Ross 8, Tipton 18, Evans 6, Melvin 5, Beavers 2, Cothran, Walker 7, Moore 11.
3-POINT GOALS: Central 5 (Tiller, Hayes 2, Montgomery, Benford); Brainerd 3 (Tipton 2, Melvin).
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@comcast.net)