COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The coachT.com web site gave White County a 100 percent chance of beating Bradley Central on Tuesday night in one Region 3-3A basketball tournament semifinal at Cookeville High School.
Bradley Central showed the coachT.com “pickers” where they could put their prognostications.
Playing inspired defense and matching the high-octane Warriors shot for shot, Bradley Central shocked the Tennessee prep basketball world to the core with a stunning 76-66 victory over previously unbeaten and state-ranked White County before about 2,100 fans.
“Everybody thought White County would win,” said Bradley senior Bradley McCurdy, who led all scorers with 25 points, 18 of which came in the fourth quarter. “Before the game I knew we were going to win and my senior year is not over. They’re a great team, but we were really prepared for them.”
The Warriors had riddled 29 consecutive opponents en route to the showdown that attracted a packed-house – Cookeville officials even rolled out the upper-level seats for this one.
Seventeen times they had scored at least 80 points in a game. They recently rained a state-record 31 3s on Rhea County in a 107-75 shellacking.
They opened the region tournament with a 92-43 blowout against McMinn County.
They hadn’t lost since dropping a 72-57 decision to Brentwood in last season’s state quarterfinals on March 11. The Warriors finished that season 30-4.
On Tuesday, the Bears hit as many 3-pointers as the Warriors – eight.
The Bears (24-6) had the best defense on the floor.
The Bears hit more clutch shots than the Warriors, especially down the stretch when they extended a 48-47 lead to a 10-point victory margin by outscoring their foe by 28-19 in the final 6 minutes, 25 seconds.
“This is awesome,” said junior Cole Copeland, who didn’t have his usual spectacular game, but his teammates rose to the occasion. “Those other guys picked me up when I wasn’t playing so well, and I don’t know what my problem was. But we got our wish, which is another shot at Walker Valley in the championship game.”
The Mustangs and Bears, who met in the District 5-3A tournament title game with Walker Valley prevailing 71-62, square off Thursday night at 7 p.m. local time for the championship and right to host a sectional game on Monday.
“Walker Valley is a hard team to match up with because they have four good scorers outside and Kenny (Bunton) inside,” Copeland said. “We’re going to have to have the same type defensive intensity that we had tonight to beat them.”
On Wednesday, Bradley Central’s Bearettes play Cumberland County’s Lady Jets for the girls’ championship. That tipoff is also set for 7 p.m. local time. Several Bearettes were on hand Tuesday lending their support to the Bears.
Copeland made the game’s first 3, about seven seconds before White County’s Jacob Fresh connected from long range.
The teams were tied at 17-all after one quarter, and it was an absolute dogfight the rest of the way.
“Really, no one gave us a chance,” Bears coach Chuck Clark said. “It just shows the character these guys have. And we’ve played a lot of close games this year. Take away four games when we won big, the other 25 were decided by 4.7 points a game. Experience in close games helped us.”
In 30 games, the Warriors’ winning margin was below double figures just seven times. A lot of others were cakewalks like the one against McMinn County.
“Bradley did a great job defensively on us tonight,” White County coach Eric Mitchell said. “Cade (Crossland) scored 16 points but he had to work so hard for his shots he got tired on defense and that bothered him.
“We knew McCurdy and Copeland were really good players, but those other kids played great as well. (Tyrell Pitner) played a great game. (John Brown) played a great game. It has been a great ride for us, but in the postseason if you don’t bring your ‘A’ game this can happen.”
The big crowd, dominated by the White County faithful, was likely flabbergasted that the Warriors were not running away from the Bears. The Warriors’ biggest lead was four points twice, once in the first half and again in the fourth.
White County’s last lead was 45-43 at the third-quarter break.
Bradley Central then delivered the fourth-quarter haymaker.
McCurdy, who had three of the Bears’ eight 3s, sandwiched two around two free throws by the Warriors’ Pierce Lamb, who scored four first-quarter points and went scoreless the rest of the game. The Bears led 48-47.
McCurdy would eventually score all but five of the Bears' 23 points in the final period.
“We watched a lot of film on them,” McCurdy said. “Each player had film to take home. We studied them. We had a really good practice Monday and came in here knowing what we had to do.”
John Brown converted a three-point play. Crossland, the District 6-3A Player of the Year, hit a deep 3, but Brown answered with a 3 and another three-point play after being fouled driving to the basket and Bradley’s lead was 60-50.
The smell of upset was in the air.
Bradley’s lead was 61-54 with just over three minutes remaining.
McCurdy drove for a layup. Copeland made one of two free throws. White County’s Jacob Fresh, who scored 12 of his 19 points in the final period, made a three-point play. McCurdy again drove the lane for a layup. Fresh canned back-to-back jumpers, the first a 3-pointer and the Warriors were within 66-62.
McCurdy dropped in one charity toss.
Fresh made two.
McCurdy sank a pair and followed them with a driving layup for a 71-64 advantage with 51.8 seconds on the clock.
Copeland again made one of two tosses.
Crossland hit a jumper at the 32-second mark.
Copeland hit two free throws and Brown followed suit and the game – and monumental upset – was in the books.
“This is hard to put into words,” Brown said. “We had a vision before the season began, so getting here means a lot. Winning this game means everything. We knew White County had a great team and they would be our toughest matchup of the year. Now we can go into the championship game against Walker Valley with a lot of confidence.
“But those last few seconds tonight was pure joy. The emotions were welling up inside me. It was total excitement.”
Mitchell was asked what, in his opinion, was the difference in Tuesday’s game compared to the previous 29.
“We didn’t hit enough 3s,” he said. “Another thing was Lamb getting into early foul trouble. I’ve played six or seven guys the whole year and we’ve not been in foul trouble. Lamb does it all for us and he’s our best athlete. He picked up two quick fouls early, we took him out and when he went back in got his third foul.
“When he’s out, we’re really small.”
Fresh finished with four fouls and Cade Crossland and his brother Cole, both fouled out. Two other Warriors also had four fouls.
Walker Valley 60, Cookeville 55: The Mustangs (21-9) battled hard to level or slightly ahead of Cookeville (23-9) and was up 45-44 heading into the final period.
Bunton, was fought foul problems and scored only two first-half points, gave the Mustangs a 52-49 lead with a layup. Josh Jones’ two free throws put Walker Valley on top by 57-53. Cookeville’s Byric Savage, who had 15 of his 21 points in the first half, made a layup, but Bryce Nunnelly hit two tosses and Jones added one for the Mustangs’ final five-point margin.
“We made an adjustment on their number 20 (Noah Hilliker) after he lit us up early with 3s,” Walker Valley coach Bob Williams said. “We started in a 2-3 but went to a 1-3 and that was huge.
“We’ve done a good job making free throws at the end when it counts the most. Josh and Bryce have done great in those situations.”
Jones paced the Mustangs with 20 points, including 12 in the first half. He was 4-of-6 from the line in the fourth quarter.
Nunnelly scored 15 points and Bunton finished with 10 points.
Hilliker, a sophomore, scored 18 points for Cookeville.
Boxscores
Cookeville 14 12 18 11 – 55
Walker Valley 14 17 14 15 – 60
Cookeville (55) – Gist 4, Reeves 8, Wilberschied 4, Noah Hilliker 18, Byric Savage 21, Bundrant.
Walker Valley (60) – Gibson 3, Melton 6, Eslinger 6, Murphy, Bryce Nunnelly 15, Josh Jones 20, Kenny Bunton 10.
3-Point Goals – Cookeville 5 (Hilliker 5), Walker Valley 6 (Melton 2, Jones 2, Gibson 1, Nunnelly 1).
Bradley Central 17 15 11 23 – 76
White County 17 12 16 19 – 66
Bradley Central (76) – Ware, Bradley McCurdy 25, Tyrell Pitner 15, Parker 5, Beavers 4, John Brown 11, Cole Copeland 10, Tucker 5.
White County (66) – Cade Crossland 16, Jacob Fresh 19, Co. Crossland 4, Lamb 4, Pierce Whited 16, Carter 7, Frazier.
3-Point Goals – Bradley Central 8 (McCurdy 3, Copeland 2, Pitner 1, Brown 1, Tucker 1), White County 8 (Ca. Crossland 3, Fresh 2, Whited 2, Carter 1).
(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @larryfleming44)