Central's Ryan Montgomery (11) led the Pounders with 17 points as Central fell to Ripley 84-69 in the quarterfinals of the Class AA TSSAA state basketball championships.
photo by Dennis Norwood
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Appearing in its first TSSAA state basketball tournament since 2000, Central stuck with Ripley for three quarters, but the Tigers pulled away behind the heroics of little point guard Chad Culbreath and defeated the Purple Pounders, 84-69, on Thursday in the Class AA quarterfinals at Middle Tennessee State University.
The Pounders trailed 49-46 after three periods, but Ripley pulled into a 60-52 lead and eventually stretched the margin to 10 points and cruised to the win.
“We basically played seven kids all year and they battled their hearts out right to the end,” Central coach Rick Rogers said. “To us, it’s not the end, but the icing on the cake. We have a good team, but we want to be a great team next year.
“I’m not going to be in this much longer because this is my 25th year at Central and I kind of want to get into administration. But I want to do it one more year with these guys (the talented juniors). I waited on this 25 years and it was a great experience.”
The Tigers advance to Friday’s semifinals where they will play Knox Fulton at 6 p.m. Central time. Fulton (27-4) beat Creek Wood, 71-63, handing the Red Hawks their second loss in 33 games.
Top-ranked Christ Presbyterian Academy, which defeated Brainerd, 77-43, will play Haywood at 4:30 p.m. in the other semifinal. Haywood beat high-scoring Carter, 74-69, holding the Knoxville squad 22 points below their state best average of 91 points.
Ripley, which has never won a boys state title, will be ready coach for Friday’s challenge, coach Lonnie Starks said.
“We may never pass this way again, so we have to do it this year,” he said. “Defense wins ballgame and we got after it defensively tonight. “
Culbreath paced the Tigers (30-11) with 26 points on 9-of-21 shooting. He scored 23 points in the second half and 12 in the Tigers’ monstrous 35-point fourth quarter. Isaiah Crawley had 20 points and 23 rebounds and Steven Collins finished with 14 points.
“(Culbreath) can score when he gets ready,” Starks said, “but we’re a better team when we get everybody involved.”
Central (22-5), the District 6-AA and Region 3-AA champions who beat Livingston Academy for a berth in the state tourney, placed four players in double figures.
Ryan Montgomery led the way with 17 points, despite being in foul trouble the entire game – he fouled out with 47 seconds remaining. Rodney Benford scored 15 points, Terron Hayes 14 and Jamichael Poole 13.
Thursday’s loss snapped the Pounders’ 12-game winning streak, but they didn’t waste any time dwelling on the loss.
Benford was asked what he will do now that the successful season has concluded.
“I’m going to get better,” he said.
The Pounders’ entire game plan was blown up in the first quarter when Montgomery, the team’s leading scorer and rebounder with 18 points and 12 boards per game, picked up three quick fouls. The third came with 2:31 left in the period, but Rogers elected to keep Montgomery on the floor.
Montgomery went back to the action 53 seconds into the second period and got foul No. 4 with 2:20 left in the quarter.
“Those quick fouls were really frustrating,” Montgomery said. “And with four fouls I couldn’t be aggressive or attack on offense. On defense, I couldn’t defend or swipe at anything.”
Said Rogers of Montgomery’s foul woes, “Without him out there we’re not the same team. But in this environment and this situation playing against an athletic team with a short bench, I had no choice but to leave him on the floor. I had nobody to replace him.
“If we had taken him out earlier, their number 53 (Crawley) would have made layups all night.”
Ripley, as any good team led by a veteran coach like Starks, went right at Montgomery on its offensive end and the muscular 6-foot-4-inch Crawley scored seven of his 20 points in the final eight-minute period, including several putbacks.
Culbreath inflicted his share of damage to the Pounders in that period, scoring six of his team’s 13 points in a stretch that allowed the Tigers to extend a 56-52 lead to 69-60 with 3:13 on the clock. The slashing point guard, who doesn’t mind launching 3-pointers from 25 feet or beyond, hit two free throws to give Ripley a 77-67 advantage and added two free throws and a layup in the final 35.7 seconds for the final 15-point margin of victory.
“I tried to make sure I got my teammates involved,” said Culbreath, who also had nine assists and three steals. “I thought I had to take it to the rim to open up our outside game. I had a pretty good game, but not my best of the season.”
Rogers was impressed with Culbreath’s abilities as a point guard despite his size.
“We tried to double him at the end of the third trying to make him give the ball up,” Rogers said. “To have complete control of the basketball and see the floor like he does, that’s a point guard.”
Central had its moments.
The Pounders trailed 28-19 with 1:50 remaining in the second quarter, but went on a 10-0 run and went into the locker room with a 29-28 halftime lead when Hayes dropped in a spectacular acrobatic, spinning, falling down, over-the-head layup with 8.8 seconds on the clock.
“I thought I was a little out of control,” Hayes said, “but I just had to spin and throw it up there.”
Rogers had seen Hayes make that shot in practice a few times, but never in a game. He had a good feeling about Thursday’s miracle that was worth of ESPN’s highlight show.
“I thought it was going in,” he said.
Then, Rogers and the players brought to the media interview room left with one common thought in mind.
“We’ve been over here two years to watch the games,” Benford said. “We wanted to make it this year and win it next year.”
LINESCORE
Ripley 84, Central 69
Ripley (30-11)
Holloway 4-7 0-0 8, Currie 1-1 0-0 2, Chad Culbreath 9-21 7-7 26, Steven Collins 6-9 2-4 14, Isaiah Crawley 8-11 4-6 20, Alston 3-3 0-0 6, Atkins 0-0 0-0 0, Jones 2-6 2-4 6. Totals 33-58 15-21 84.
Central (22-5)
Tiller 1-9 2-6 4, Billingsley 0-1 0-2 0, Terron Hayes 5-11 1-4 14, Ryan Montgomery 7-12 3-4 17, Jamichael Poole 6-7 0-0 13, Hudgins 1-1 0-0 2, Rodney Benford 6-11 0-0 15, Abshire 0-1 0-0 0, Swafford 0-0 0-0 0, Lane 2-10 0-0 4.
Ripley 13 15 21 35 – 84
Central 12 17 17 23 – 69
3-Point Goals – Ripley (Holloway 0-2, Culbreath 1-9, Collins 0-2, Jones 2-6), Central (Tiller 0-3, Billingsley 0-1, Hayes 3-8, Montgomery 0-3, Poole 1-2, Benford 3-5, Abshire 0-1, Lane 0-2).
Rebounds – Ripley 37 (Crawley 13), Central 32 (Tiller 7).
Assists – Ripley 20 (Culbreath 9), Central 11 (Tiller 6).
Turnovers – Ripley 14 (Culbreath 4), Central 16 (Poole 6).
Technical Fouls – None.
Fouls – Montgomery.
(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @larryfleming44)
Rodney Benford (15) connected for 15 points for Central.
photo by Dennis Norwood