Walker County, coached by Bob Williams, rallied with less than a minute left to beat Bradley Central, 56-52, on Thursday for the Region 3-3A basketball tournament title at Cookeville High School. Both teams advanced to the sectionals on Monday.
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Walker Valley lost two regular-season games to rival Bradley Central as the Bears breezed to an undefeated league record and No. 1 seed for the District 5-3A tournament.
The Mustangs, facing the Bears for the fourth time this season, finished off a postseason sweep of their on-court basketball enemy on Monday and it was nothing short of a little more sweet revenge.
After beating the Bears for the district tournament title last month, Walker Valley overtook Bradley Central with less than a minute remaining and knocked off the Bears, 56-52, on Thursday night to capture the Region 3-3A basketball tournament championship before a small crowd of about 250 at Cookeville High School.
Had the game been played in Cleveland, it would have attracted a full house no matter the venue.
“Bradley’s defense took me out of my rhythm in the first half and we got down by like nine points,” said Walker Valley’s Josh Jones, who scored 17 points in the title game and was named the tournament’s most valuable player. “We’ve been down before and our goal was to get the lead back by the fourth quarter, and we did that.”
Bradley won the regular-season matchups by a combined nine points.
The Mustangs won the district and region title games by a total of 15 points and are now 7-0 against the Bears on a neutral court. The Bears are 2-6 versus Walker Valley in the postseason.
Walker Valley (22-9) and Bradley (24-7), which had won 17 of its last 18 games going into Thursday’s showdown, now turn their attention to Monday’s sectional round.
The Mustangs will be at home against the Lawrence County (21-11) and Bradley Central will hit the road to take on undefeated and state-ranked Blackman (31-0). Blackman beat Lawrence County, 58-52, for the Region 4-3A title.
“We just beat a team (White County) a couple days ago that was 29-0,” Bradley Central coach Chuck Clark said. “Blackman is 31-0 and both those teams over there (Region 3-4A) are good. You get this deep in the year, nothing’s easy.”
Bradley stunned the Warriors, 76-66, in the regional semifinal while Walker Valley eliminated host Cookeville, 60-55.
If there’s anything everybody understands, besides death and taxes, it’s that a District 5-3A team does not want to lose the region tournament title game and head toward Murfreesboro for the sectional, which is the final elimination game in the quest for a state tourney berth at the TSSAA boys’ state tournament at Middle Tennessee State’s Murphy Center later this month.
“It’s a tough thing to have to play the next round on the road,” Jones said. “We’ll play the next game in our environment; we’ll have the home-court advantage. We know our rims and it’s going to be a big advantage.”
Bradley, which upset White County (29-0) in the semifinals, used a 17-9 edge in the second quarter to build a 30-21 halftime lead.
Senior Bradley McCurdy had 10 points at the break and appeared primed to follow up his spectacular 25-point effort – he scored 18 in the fourth quarter – against the Warriors with another one against the Mustangs.
“Bradley had a great second quarter,” said Mustangs coach Bob Williams, now 221-151 in 12 seasons, but only 10-22 against the Bears. “I told our guys coming out we had to play our basketball. We were shooting the ball too quick and we had to get Josh going in the third. Every game we’ve played with Bradley has come down to which team makes plays at the end. We made the plays tonight.”
Walker Valley, facing the Bears for the first time in a region championship game, outscored Bradley 9-4 starting the third, but still trailed by 36-30. The Mustangs then made their move, scoring the quarter’s final nine points – Bryce Nunnelly had two buckets, Jones swished a 3-pointer and Kenny Bunton scored on a layup – and took a 39-36 into the fourth period.
“The game was actually won in the third quarter when they came out with a sense or urgency,” Clark said. “The first four minutes after halftime are some of the most important minutes of the game. We had a chance to widen the lead, but you have to give them credit.”
Walker Valley’s got things going with a steal and driving layup.
Bunton, a Lipscomb University signee who hung seven points on the Bears in the opening quarter, hit a free throw. Bunton missed the second attempt, but Kolton Gibson got the ball and scored on a put-back. That capped a 14-0 run that started as the third period wound down.
McCurdy put up a shot that bounced on the rim twice before falling through the net with 5:26 left.
McCurdy’s field goal ended the Bears’ scoring drought that started after Cole Copeland’s layup with 4:08 left in the third quarter. Copeland, the district player of the year who played two sub-par offensive games in Cookeville, finished with 11 points.
McCurdy was scoreless over the final 5 minutes, 25 seconds.
John Brown made two free throws – he was 6-for-6 from the line for all his scoring. Bunton dunked after an assist from Nunnelly and Bradley’s Tyrell Pitner rammed home a 3 from the left corner and hit a lane runner to give Bradley a 48-46 lead.
Jones tied the game with two free throws.
Bradley’s Peyton Parker, getting a brilliant assist from Brown, dropped in a layup.
Copeland missed the front end of a one-and-bonus, but got the ball back and was again fouled, this time by Cooper Melton, his fifth. Copeland made both free throws to give the Bears a 52-50 cushion with 1:25 on the clock.
Jones made a pair of charity tosses.
After a Brown turnover, the Mustangs got a timeout with 54.2 left.
Jones made 4-of-6 free throws and Walker Valley led 54-52 with 13.5 seconds left.
At the other end, Parker got a feed in close, but missed the point-blank layup.
Brown fouled Bunton, who made both free throws with 4.5 seconds showing.
“(Bradley) is our big rival,” Bunton said. “But when I play everybody is my rival, whether it’s Cookeville, Bradley or White County. This is awesome.”
A few ticks later, the Walker Valley contingent who made the drive up to Cookeville began the victory celebration.
“This is our first region championship in seven years,” Jones said. “It means everything to us. Bradley played so good and we had to respond. We kept battling, kept our composure and found a way to win.”
Clark, now 62-29 in three seasons leading the Bears, pointed to the game’s finish as a key reason for his team’s loss.
“Our kids have gone out and played exceptionally well in tight games,” he said. “But we had a couple turnovers and they made some shots. That’s where we have been so strong down the stretch. We don’t turn it over; we do our stuff and get to the line or make plays.
“We didn’t do that tonight.”
Championship
Bradley Central 13 17 6 16 – 52
Walker Valley 11 10 18 17 – 56
Bradley Central (52) – Ware 2, Bradley McCurdy 17, Tyrell Pitner 10, Parker 4, Brown 6, Cole Copeland 11, Tucker 2.
Walker Valley (56) – Gibson 2, Melton 4, Eslinger 6, Nunnelly 8, Josh Jones 17, Kenny Bunton 19.
3-Point Goals – Bradley Central 5 (McCurdy 2, Pitner 2, Copeland 1), Walker Valley 2 (Jones 1, Bunton 1).
Region 3-3A All-Tournament Team
Walker Valley – Josh Jones (MVP), Kenny Bunton, Bryce Nunnelly
Bradley Central – Bradley McCurdy, Tyrell Pitner, Cole Copeland
Cookeville – Byric Savage, Noah Hilliker
White County – Jacob Fresh, Cade Crossland
(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @larryfleming44)