CLEVELAND, Tenn. – It’s going to be an all-District 5-3A showdown on Thursday for the Region 3-3A basketball tournament championship at Raider Arena.
East Hamilton let an 11-point lead in the fourth quarter slip away before Jamaal Walker restored order in the final minutes and the Hurricanes held on for a 68-65 victory over Stone Memorial on Tuesday in the region semifinals at Cleveland High School.
Walker eight of the Canes’ final 12 points after Stone Memorial tied the game at 56-all on Justin Headrick’s free throw at the 2:54 mark. The Panthers never lead in what turned out to be a crowd-pleasing barn-burner.
“We got away from our game plan late and didn’t have enough patience with the offense,” East Hamilton coach Frank Jones said. “But we pulled it out and I’m proud of that.”
The 6-foot-4 Walker finished with a team-high 24 points and Cam Montgomery had 23, powering East Hamilton to its third straight appearance in the regional championship. The Canes defeated Stone Memorial in the 2018 semifinals to reach the title game where they knocked off Cookeville.
In 2017, East Hamilton won the regional over Walker Valley, beat Blackman in the Sectional and went to its first state tournament and lost to eventual champion Memphis East in the quarterfinals.
“I’ve been to the championship three of my four years at East Hamilton,” said Montgomery, who along with Walker are the only two seniors that play significant minutes. “Getting to the championship game is really big for us and the program. We’ve built this program over the last few years and we’re not satisfied to win the region. We want to get back to state.”
Stone Memorial’s Brett Newcome poured in a game-high 34 points in a losing cause. He made five of the Panthers’ 11 3-point shots.
Walker and Montgomery combined for eight of the team’s 15 points in the final period.
“We’ve gained a lot of experience as a team this year,” Walker said. “I don’t like how we played there at the end, but we won the game and that’s what matter. I really didn’t want to lose this game. It was close, but I didn’t feel any jitters there at the end.”
In the night’s first game, host Cleveland used a brilliant mix of jaw-dropping quickness and tenacious defense to run roughshod over White County, 67-45, to record its 19th consecutive victory since losing to Oak Ridge on Dec. 15.
Already up 21-12, Cleveland used a 10-3 run to extend the advantage to 31-25 midway through the second period and basically cruised past the Warriors and into the fourth meeting with East Hamilton this season in the title game. Both teams have locked up spots in Monday's Sectionals.
The Blue Raiders won two of the previous three games, including a heart-stopping 56-54 thriller in overtime for the District 5-3A tournament championship.
“We knew Cleveland was quick, but they’re quicker on the court than what you see on film,” White County coach Eric Mitchell said. “We were worried about (Grant Hurst) and (JaCobi Wood) before the game, but (Isaiah Johnson) came out and train-wrecked us.”
Johnson scored a game-high 23 points, including 14 in the second half.
Wood had 18 points and Hurst a rather quiet 12 points.
The championship game will tip-off at 7 p.m. at Cleveland.
The Hurricanes (23-8) got a 3 from Walker 20 seconds into the game, but the Panthers answered with a Justin Headrick 3 just 15 seconds later. That was an omen for the rest of the game. East Hamilton worked into a 16-7 lead and Stone Memorial (22-7) pulled to within five going into the second period.
An 11-2 East Hamilton run – five different players scored in the quick spree – extended the lead to 33-19. The Panthers were down by 10 at the half. Walker and Montgomery each hit two free throws starting the third quarter and the advantage went to 33-19.
Darwin Randolph’s field goal gave the Canes a 53-42 lead heading into the fourth period.
Little did East Hamilton know that Randolph’s bucket would be the last points the team would score over the three minutes.
Stone Memorial mounted a comeback, starting with Hunter Wattenbarger’s free throw. Will Hecker followed with a 3 from the left corner and those were his only points of the night. Newcome drove the lane for a layup, made two free throws after a technical foul and pulled the Panthers to within 53-52 with another layup.
Montgomery stopped the bleeding with two free throws. Newcome countered with two charity tosses.
The down-the-stretch-drive made things extremely interesting.
Headrick’s free throw tied the game at 56-56.
Montgomery dropped in his acrobatic, left-handed shot that kissed the glass before hitting the net.
Walker took over, hitting two free throws.
Newcome answered with two tosses.
Walker made a 14-foot jump shot and then tipped in a teammate’s errant shot near the rim and East Hamilton was up 64-58, with 63 seconds remaining.
Newcome hit a field goal but missed the ensuing three throw after being fouled by Montgomery.
Walker again went to the stripe and made both shots. Jack Eldridge nailed a 3 from the right win with 11.6 showing.
Morrell Schramm, unusually quiet on the offensive end of the floor, calmly sank two free throws and Newcome hit a layup just before time expired.
“I can’t explain this game,” said Schramm, who scored nine points. “I rolled my ankle twice in the first half and it took me out of the game mentally. I didn’t have the best attitude tonight. I haven’t been here (region semifinals) before and my head just wasn’t into the game.”
Walker came out of the Canes’ locker room flashing a big smile.
“This feels good,” he said. “I want to go to Murfreesboro though. This is just another step toward our goal. This will be the fourth time to play Cleveland. We should have won the last game. We played 31 of the 32 minutes. We can’t play 31 on Thursday.”
East Hamilton had a two-point lead over the Blue Raiders in the final seconds, and Marcus Long grabbed a rebound with about 3 seconds left. Hurst picked his pocket and beat the overtime buzzer with a game-winning layup.
In their previous 18 games, the Blue Raiders (27-4) averaged 73.4 points and appeared on schedule to at least match that average or maybe surpass it.
White County (23-9) deployed a zone defense and Cleveland showed good patience.
Johnson, an All-District 5-3A pick, started to assert himself with two field goals and a 3-pointer in the second and Cleveland had a comfortable 41-24 halftime lead. His blurring quickness was obvious. Once on the perimeter on either side of the foul lane, Johnson was dribble off a screen and beat his defender to the rim by two and three steps.
It was demoralizing.
“We know we’re quick and we try to use that as much as possible,” Johnson said. “After a while, White couldn’t guard us off the dribble and we were either taking it to the hole or kicking it back outside.”
There wasn’t much kicking the ball out against the Warriors.
“If we do one thing, we do quickness,” Cleveland coach Jason McCowan said. “It’s tough on the other team to simulate that in practice. The key tonight was getting off to a fast start and we did, and we kept our foot on the gas pedal the whole game.
“Plus, Johnson had one of his best defensive efforts I’ve seen all year and we were able to feed off that. His intensity was really good.”
Mitchell, whose 16th year at White County ended with Thursday’s loss, added, “They don’t have much size, but they don’t need it with all that speed on the floor.”
Cleveland kept stretching the lead in the second half and the Warriors were down 47-31 after Dyson Reese’s 3 off the left wing. As hot as Johnson had been, he reached a sizzle late in the third period.
Johnson drove the baseline for a layup with defenders contesting the play.
After Hurst missed a shot, Johnson leaped high and tipped the ball in. His layup with 1:37 on the clock pushed the lead to 55-35.
Johnson’s final points came on a 3 from the left corner at the 4-minute mark. Moments later he went to the bench, his work completed.
“Going to the region finals is amazing,” he said. “I’ve not been this far before and we have to get ready for East Hamilton because we want play in the state tournament.”
Cleveland’s last appearance in the region title game came in 2010-11 when it lost to McMinn County. In 2009-10, the Blue Raiders beat Ooltewah, 83-59, for their last region championship with that game being played at Warren County.
Wood was also hot in the early scoring, putting up 14 of his 18 points in the first half and 12 in the first quarter.
“Even before the opening tip we knew we were quicker than White County,” he said. “So, we were going to take it to the hole. We’re always quick with the ball and we used it a lot more than usual tonight.”
Scoring Summaries
White County 12 12 11 10 – 45
Cleveland 21 20 14 12 – 67
White County (45) – Nash, Gilbert, Reese 6, Paul, Burchett, Dodson 8, Crockett, Gentry, Kinser 4, Webster 2, Grant Slatten 11, Winningham 4, Kade Clark 10.
Cleveland (67) – Dale, Isaiah Johnson 23, D. Bunton 4, Howard 1, JaCobi Wood 18, Grant Hurst 12, Colbaugh, K. Bunton, McGowan 9, Armstrong, Hall, Williams.
3-Point Goals – White County 3 (Reese 2, Slatten 1), Cleveland 5 (Johnson 2, McGowan 2, Wood 1).
East Hamilton 22 17 14 15 – 68
Stone Memorial 15 12 13 24 – 65
East Hamilton (68) – Johnson 2, Jamaal Walker 24, Cam Montgomery 23, Schramm 9, Rogers, Long 2, D. Randolph 8, Jenkins.
Stone Memorial (65) – Brett Newcome 343, VanWinkle 3, Cox, Boyd, Justin Headrick 15, Eldridge 6, Hecker 3, Wattenbarger 1, Coudriet 3.
3-Point Goals – East Hamilton 6 (Montgomery 4, Walker 2), Stone Memorial 11 (Newcome 5, Headrick 2, VanWinkle 1, Eldridge 1, Hecker 1, Coudriet 1).
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)