Central, Brainerd Boys Advance To 3-AA Finals

Red Bank, Tyner Both Eliminated At East Ridge Tuesday Night

  • Tuesday, March 1, 2016
  • John Hunt

The fourth time wasn’t the charm for either Red Bank or Tyner on Tuesday night at East Ridge.

The stakes were a little bit higher, but the results were the same as Red Bank lost to Central and Tyner got beat by Brainerd in the boys semifinals of the Region 3-AA tournament being played at the Catherine Neely Gymnasium in front of a near-capacity crowd.

While Central had beaten Red Bank by four, three and two points the first three times they played this season, the fourth time wasn’t as close as the Purple Pounders played inspired basketball and prevailed by 66-52.

It was just the opposite for the Brainerd Panthers, who had beaten the Rams by convincing margins the first three times they played.  That wasn’t the case on Tuesday as the Panthers had to work a little harder before escaping with the 63-58 victory.

Central and Brainerd will now face each other for the fourth time as well in a rematch of last year’s region final.  Central won the two regular-season games while Brainerd pulled off a 69-62 upset in last week’s district tournament final, so Thursday’s 7 p.m.

contest should be a dandy.

The tournament will continue with the girls championship on Wednesday with arch-rivals McMinn Central hoping to keep a 17-game winning streak alive when they face the Sequoyah Lady Chiefs.

Both region finalists advance to the sectional round with the girls playing on Saturday and the guys on Monday.  The region champs will host while the runners-up will both travel.

CENTRAL 66, RED BANK 52: Central coach Rick Rogers loves tough competition, but he’s about over facing the Lions in tough situations.  The veteran coach has never been one to sit back and relax, but he was almost able to do just that in the waning moments with his team comfortably in front.

Perhaps the biggest story from this game is that Ryan Montgomery suffered a sprained ankle two days ago and wasn’t even expected to play.

Central's best player entered the game midway through the second quarter and only scored five points in limited action, but his mere presence was enough to spark Central’s effort.

“He couldn’t even get off the floor during warm-ups and I didn’t expect him to play at all, but he asked me to put him in midway through the second quarter and I did.  That was quite an emotional lift when he went in,” Rogers explained.

“We want to do whatever we can to get back to the state tournament if possible, so I thought my guys responded in a positive manner tonight.  We worked for about two hours in practice yesterday with the idea Ryan wouldn’t be playing, so we were ready when the challenge came our way tonight.

“I was really proud of McClendon Curtis, who came ready to play tonight.  He has a lot of fun with basketball and he’s gotten better every game, but he really stepped up tonight,” Rogers praised his 6-8 big man who joined the team midway through the season.

As has been the case all year, this one was close.  At least, it started out that way as there were nine lead changes in the first half alone.

A short bank shot by Will Davis got Red Bank within 15-13 when the first quarter ended and a 3 by Malik McConnell gave the Lions their last lead at 16-15 to start the second period.

A drive by McConnell with just under three minutes remaining in the half got Red Bank within 22-21, but the Purple Pounders finished the half on a 10-2 run for a 32-23 lead at halftime.

Central enjoyed its biggest lead of the game at 17 points on three occasions in the third quarter, the last being at 45-28 following a putback by Curtis with 1:22 showing.

Red Bank then scored the next eight points to get within 45-37 with a quarter remaining, but it never got any closer as Central had an answer every time the Lions scored.

Central’s biggest lead came in the final minute at 66-47 when Montgomery rocked the house with a monster jam before Kolbi Suttles scored the final five points for Red Bank to make the final margin 14 points.

“That’s not the outcome we wanted, but kudos to Central for a job well done.  You could tell they’ve been in this situation before,” said Red Bank coach Nick Fike after the final buzzer.

“We just didn’t shoot the ball very well, but this is our first winning season in five years and these guys have done a great job of helping me turn this program around,” he added.

Rodney Benford had 15 points to lead four Central players in double figures.  Terron Hayes was next with 14 while Emmanuel Lane and Curtis finished with 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Suttles scored 19 points to lead Red Bank while McConnell was also in double digits with 14.

Central won the battle of the boards by an unofficial 31-22 margin as Curtis snagged 10 for Central and Tradyal Autry had five for the Lions.

Central improves to 19-5 while Red Bank’s season ends at 17-14.

BRAINERD 63, TYNER 58: Dajuanta Ross is one Panther senior who didn’t want to see his prep career come to an end just yet and he played his heart out to keep that from happening.

And Brainerd point guard Kentrell Evans was celebrating his birthday on Tuesday and he was another who refused to lose in the most important game of  the season to date so far.

With Ross scoring half of his team-high 18 points in the first quarter, the Panthers pulled away from an 11-9 lead for a 16-10 advantage at the first water break.

Brainerd kept slowly extending that lead as a putback by Michael Hampton made it a dozen at the break, 33-21.

Tyner was still behind 50-41 when the fourth quarter began, but that’s when the Rams turned up the intensity and made things really interesting in the final eight minutes.

A 3 from Kevin Cameron and a drive down the lane by Kenny Bulloch got Tyner within 50-46 with 6:41 to play before Jessie Walker responded with a three-point play to give the Panthers a little breathing room.

Another bucket by Cameron got the Rams within two at 56-54 with 42 seconds to play, but Evans swished two straight free throws and Ross had a backboard-rattling dunk with 20 seconds to give Brainerd a seemingly-comfortable 60-54 lead.

Cameron sank four of six free throws to keep Tyner in the game, but Evans sank a pair with 1.8 ticks left to save the day for the Panthers.

“I’m happy with the win and now we have to get ready for Thursday,” said Brainerd coach Levar Brown after his team had won for the 25th time in 30 games.

“It was an emotional game for Dajuanta and it was Kentrell’s birthday, so we weren’t going to lose if they had anything to say about it.  I liked the way we played in the first half and we knew that Tyner would eventually make a run.

“We also know that Kevin Cameron is a great player and we couldn’t stop him tonight.  We were just lucky that he had an off-night shooting and his shot wasn’t falling like it normally does, but I didn’t get nervous at the end as long as Dajuanta and Kentrell were on the floor,” Brown concluded with a smile.

Jessie Walker earned his money on the inside for Brainerd as he set the pace with 20 points and seven rebounds.  Ross was next with 18 while Hampton was next with seven.

Cameron popped the nets for 23 points for the Rams, who finish their season at 19-8.  Bulloch was next with 10 while Jerrion Christopher, Jaylen Bowens and John Boyd all scored six points apiece.

Bowens matched Walker with seven rebounds as both teams had an unofficial 25 each.

RED BANK  13  10  14  15  --  52

CENTRAL  15  17  13  21  --  66

RED BANK (52) – Suttles 19, Tate, Davis 7, McConnell 14, Henderson, Spearman, Thomas 8, Autry 2, Shelby 2, Sewell, Jackson.

CENTRAL (66) – Lane 12, Montgomery 5, Swafford 4, Hayes 14, Curtis 11, Baxter 5, Benford 15.

3-POINT GOALS: Red Bank 4 (Suttles 2, McConnell, Thomas); Central 6 (Lane, Montgomery, Hayes 2, Benford 2).

TYNER  10  11  20  17  --  58

BRAINERD  16  17  17  13  --  63

TYNER (58) – Cameron 23, Young, Bulloch 10, Elston 5, Christopher 6, Sprawls 2, Bowens 6, Boyd 6.

BRAINERD (63) – Shropshire 3, Ross 18, Evans 5, Melvin 3, Beavers 5, Hampton 7, Beach, Herman 2, Walker 20.

3-POINT GOALS: Tyner 2 (Cameron 2); Brainerd 2 (Shropshire, Melvin).

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)

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