There are few things more impressive on the basketball resume than a District 6-AA crown, especially on the boy’s side where the AA state rankings almost always house a name or two from the 6-AA neighborhood.
If you are good enough to compete for top dog honors here, you are good enough to partake in the statewide conversation regarding the best of the bunch.
This year was expected to be about as wide open a battle as far as the memory could stretch with four battle-tested studs capable of wiping the floor with one another on any given night.
Saturday night, though, the floor wipers wore a whole bunch of maroon and gold.
Regular-season champ Tyner withstood everything Red Bank could throw at them, and calmly and collectively walked away from the night with a 62-54 win over the Lions. Second-seeded Howard, likewise, was too much for rival Brainerd as the Hustlin’ Tigers picked up a third win this year over the Panthers to the tune of 62-52 inside the Signal Mountain Gymnasium.
The Rams (21-3) will play in their fourth consecutive district title game on Tuesday night when they battle a Howard (22-6) squad playing for its first title since the 2014 season. Tip is slated for 7:30 at Signal Mountain. Brainerd and Red Bank will meet in the consolation game on Monday also at 7:30 in a game to decide region tournament seeding.
“We talked about it a week or so in the locker room and only one of our kids has ever played for a title and that was a middle school title. Getting back here was important to them, and it showed tonight,” said Howard coach James Tally afterwards.
One team that knows a lot about playing for district titles is the Signal Mountain girls squad, who thanks to a 62-38 thumping of Tyner last night, earned a shot at a sixth consecutive tournament title. It won’t be easy, though, as regular-season champ Red Bank handled Hixson easily in a 59-24 victory. It will be the fourth meeting between the two programs this year, and while the Lady Eagles won twice, the Lionettes won the most recent outing. The two will square off Tuesday in the 6 p.m. tip. Hixson and Tyner girls play the consolation game on Monday also with a 6 p.m. tip.
“We know what it takes to beat them and we are excited about the opportunity. Getting the regular season title was huge, but it also put a target on us, but we handled our business tonight, and we’re exactly where wanted to be,” said Red Bank coach Bailey McGinnis.
Tyner boys 62, Red Bank 54: The Lions have earned this reputation of being the high fliers of the league, and there is little doubt they play in an atmosphere few around can reach. Over the last couple of years, coach Nick Fike has seen his boys in blue excise a lot of demons, but the one hump they just can’t seem to solve has been the Tyner Rams.
Tyner won its 21st straight game against Red Bank, and no matter what the Lions did, it was the Rams who seemed to have an answer, frustrating the talented Lions once again.
“Every time we went on a little run, they seemed to answer it. It’s frustrating. We forced them to shoot some shots we wanted, and then they cleaned up the glass with the misses. We just gave them way too many opportunities,” Fike said afterwards.
The Lions bolted from the gate with a 7-0 run, but Tyner quickly set the precedent with a 17-0 run. Tyner’s go-to Kobe Smith had a dozen of the points, and even when red Bank figured out a way to slow him down, he found open shooters or followed with rebounds in a 28-point outing that was too much to overcome.
“We got a lot of the 50/50 balls tonight, and that the difference. Every time they hit us, we hit them back, and that’s what you have to do this time of the year,” said Smith.
Another difference for the Rams was the defensive play of Nigel Sturkey. The big man was clearly frustrated by Red Bank’s ability to play above the rim, but he sucked it up late, and had two key blocks in the final period, and held his own among the skyscrapers for rebounds that proved crucial.
“Nigel was frustrated, but he is a senior. We have been preaching all year about moving on to the next play, and I thought we did tonight. I have a lot of respect for Red Bank and we got what we expected from them. Those guys play above the rim, but we stuck with what we do, and we stuck with Nigel and he came through,” Tyner coach E’Jay Ward said.
Tyner led by as much as 30-14, but Lucas Brown got the Lions back in it. Brown finished with 21 on the night, and his highlight reel dunk midway through the third and step back 3 late in the period pulled the Lions to within 45-42 heading into the fourth. Red Bank got within a point before Tyner got two big treys. Smith hit one from the corner and Kameron Dozier pushed it back to 52-48 with his 3 at the 5:38 mark.
Sturkey had back-to-back blocks of dunk attempts after that trey and his rebound and stick back pushed it back to 58-50 and the Lions were done.
“I just had to stick with it. I’m a senior and I know this team needs me to perform for us to win. I didn’t get down, I just got a little more motivated,” Sturkey said.
LeKerrick Ellison was a thorn in the Rams side all evening with his pogo-like leaps altering and blocking shots, and he finished with 10 points. Brandon Jones was also in double digits with 11.
Howard boys 62, Brainerd 52: It wasn’t your usual array of long-range bombs one typically expects in a Howard-Brainerd affair as the squads connected on just two 3-pointers apiece. It did, however, have its share of fireworks, and none of them were any more spectacular than the behind-the-back pass from Mike Wilson that hit Kerrick Thorne in stride for a monster dunk over a Brainerd defender.
The play was particularly important because it came in the midst of a 13-0 Howard run in which the Tigers forced five straight turnovers. Wilson deflected a ball near midcourt that was headed out of bounds before he chased it down, flipped it behind his back all the way across the court where the big man brought the hammer down and the crowd to its feet.
Up to that stretch, Brainerd had done a fabulous job of controlling both the tempo and keeping its fan base engaged.
“They threw a lot at us in the first half, everything they had, and when we got to the fourth period, I sensed they were a little drained. We decided to put some pressure on them, and it got us going. We’re pretty good when can run and gun it,” said Howard coach James Talley.
Echoed Brainerd boss Levar Brown: “That little stretch was the difference. We didn’t handle their pressure very well at all and it’s disappointing because it was our seniors. But we’ll regroup and be back.”
Leading 42-36 at the start of the final period, the Hustlin’ Tigers went to a 1-3-1 press and got two layups from Xavier Fisher to spark the 13-0 run to push out to a 49-42 margin. It was enough of a margin, the Panthers never recovered, although they did pull to within 50-49 before Calvin James and Company closed it out with a 5-0 run to end it.
James, the inspirational leader of the club, was held scoreless in the first half, but came out strong with 15 second-half points. And with leading scorer Moochie Bowens held scoreless for the game, Fisher picked up the slack with an outstanding 17 point effort to lead the winners.
“We haven’t been in the district championship since 2014 and we wanted that opportunity bad. I didn’t play well in the first half, but we were still in it, so I just had to pick it up in the final half,” said James.
The Panthers got to within 50-49 on Darren Lewis’ two free throws, but Thorne got a couple of tough buckets in traffic and Brainerd couldn’t find the basket in the final 1:08 as Howard preserved the win.
Fisher (17), Thorne (13) and James (15) led the winners in double digits while three Panthers also chipped in double figures. LeDerron Freeman had 11, Cameron Evans 11 and Jonte Williams 10.
Signal Mountain girls 62, Tyner 38: It would have been really easy for Signal Mountain coach Kendra Bell to have peeled the paint off the Lady Eagles’ locker room at halftime following a 21-21 tie with Tyner, but the veteran coach said it never got to that.
Playing for the first time in 15 days against a team they had beaten twice already by a combined 56 points and having the luxury of home court advantage, the Lady Eagles’ opened post-season play with perhaps their worst half of the year.
“We missed a lot of free throws, had way too many turnovers, and Tyner came ready to play. It would be easy to get a little upset at the half, but we’re a veteran team, so I didn’t have to say a whole lot to be honest. They knew,” said Bell after watching her girls score just one bucket in the second quarter.
Lamiah Walker scored 13 third quarter points and teammate Jaylah Hardy scored another eight in a 25-point outburst which effectively ended any shot of a Lady Ram upset.
“Tyner put a lot of pressure on us in that second quarter and we didn’t handle it very well, plus they got us in foul trouble and we had to sit two starters in that quarter. The girls knew they didn’t play well, and took it upon themselves to right it in the second half. There’s not many stretches in a season where you go 15 days between games, and I thought that played a role in it too,” Bell added.
The Lady Eagles (24-4) led by 21 heading into the final period and coasted to their sixth trip to a District Championship game under Bell’s guidance. Walker led the winners with 23 points and Hardy added 17. Steady Olivia Koontz tossed in another 12 and grabbed 11 rebounds. The Lady Eagles made 12 of 23 free throws on the night, but Walker wound up making nine of hers, including a pair of and-ones in the big third quarter.
The Lady Rams got a nice outing by Jemiyah McKenzie who canned four 3s on the day.
Red Bank girls 59, Hixson 24: With front row seats, the Lionettes paid close attention to what took place in the first half of the Signal Mountain outing and used it as fuel.
“Anything can happen when you get to this point, and the first game definitely got our attention. I was happy with the way the girls responded and took care of business. They handled it. This extra week off before the district has been hard on all of us, but we were happy to be back out on the court again,” McGinnis said.
Red Bank blasted to a 25-2 lead after the first period and never looked back. Raijeria Bell was unstoppable, outscoring the Lady Wildcats in the first half by herself. She had 12 in the first period and had 19 of her 23 game-high points at the intermission. Savannah Washington tallied all 14 of her points in three periods and Bailey Lee added another 10 as all nine Lionettes got significant playing time.
“Tuesday night, should be a good one against Signal Mountain,” McGinnis said.
Hixson got a nice game from Kirby Brown, who scored 14 of the team’s 24 points, and added nine rebounds.
GIRLS SUMMARIES
TYNER 8 13 4 13 – 38
SIGNAL MOUNTIAN 19 2 25 16 – 62
TYNER (38) – Long 7, Ratliff 3, Camp 2, Cosey 7, Crumsey 1, McCullough, Jemiyah McKenzie 12, Chubb 6.
SIGNAL MOUNTAIN (62) – Olivia Koontz 12, Lamiah Walker 23, Jaylah Hardy 17, McCarter 4, Sitton 4, Kennedy 2, Hanson, Bruce, Roberson, Maddox, King.
3-POINT GOALS: Tyner 5 (McKenzie 4, Long); Signal Mountain 1 (Hardy)
HIXSON 2 8 9 5 – 24
RED BANK 25 11 16 7 – 59
HIXSON (24) – Nakata, Strickland 5, Kirby Brown 14, Alford, Pretzer, Johnston 3, Bellamy 2, Sullivan.
RED BANK (59) – Savannah Washington 14, Loher 3, Crafton 3, Ware, Scott 4, Raijeria Bell 23, Bailey Lee 10.
3-POINT GOALS: Hixson 1 (Johnston); Red Bank 4 (Bell 2, Crafton, Loher)
BOYS SUMMARIES
BRAINERD 11 15 14 12 – 52
HOWARD 7 18 11 26 – 62
BRAINERD (52) – Lewis, Jr. 8, LaDerron Freeman 11, Wheeler 2, Halfacre, Jr. 3, Hubbard 2, Cameron Evans 11, Jonte Williams 10, Jackson, Jr., Saddler, Bates 2.
HOWARD (62) – Sexton 3, Edwards, Kerrick Thorne 13, Bowens, Xavier Fisher 17, Freeman, Wilson 9, Hall 4, Calvin James 15.
3-POINT GOALS: Brainerd 2 (Freeman, Williams); Howard 2 (Wilson, Fisher).
RED BANK 11 13 18 12 – 54
TYNER 17 16 12 17 – 62
RED BANK (54) – Ross, Long, Lucas Brown 21, Eddins 5, Trimble 8, Brandon Jones 11, Bell, Lekerrick Ellison 10.
TYNER (62) – Kobe Smith 28, Dillard 6, Dozier 3, Ross, Hambrick 3, Sturkey 6, Holloway 8, Gresham, Conyers 8, Jackson.
3-POINT GOALS: Red Bank 2 (Brown 2); Tyner 6 (Smith 3, Dozier, Holloway, Hambrick)
(Contact James Beach at 1134james@gmail.com)