The winning just continues for the Tyner Rams.
Tyner had to rely on a last-second shot to beat Howard in the District 6-AA championship game on Tuesday, but they didn’t need that late field goal to beat McMinn Central Saturday night.
The Chargers challenged for a while, but when all was said and done, the Rams were simply too much to handle as they advanced to the Region 3-AA semifinals with a 65-48 victory.
Tyner coach E’Jay Ward was happy with the final result and the way his team earned it.
“I thought we executed late in the game, but the main thing right now is to survive and advance,” he said, knowing that a loss at this point would end a season.
“I like how we played down the stretch as we did what we had to do on offense and we also played some pretty good defense. Today was a good day for Tyner basketball.
“We just have to stay locked in and be sure we’re ready to play on Tuesday. We knew that McMinn Central could shoot the ball, but we kept pretty good pressure on them.
“I thought Nehemiah Bloodsaw really gave us a spark and his dunk late in the third quarter gave us a serious boost. This is a good time for him to come out of his shell. Anthony Sims also came off the bench and gave us some good minutes, but we have a bunch of kids who contributed and that’s the key to keep winning,” Ward nodded after his team had improved to 19-2 overall.
McMinn Central coach Daniel Curtis felt like Tyner’s defense was a key to his team’s downfall.
“That was a rough one as they shot it better than the last time we were down here,” Curtis said after a brief post-game chat with his kids.
“We were attacking the rim, but we just didn’t make shots when we needed to. We cut it to seven at one point, but all of a sudden, Tyner scored three straight buckets. I thought we played hard, but we just had trouble scoring and had a hard time stopping them,” he nodded.
The Rams built a 6-0 lead in the first half of the first quarter before the Chargers loosened up a little. Tyner’s lead was 16-8 following a short bank shot by Bloodsaw with 1:11 left in the opening period before the Chargers got a 3 from Gabe Masingale and a layup from Samuel Masingale at the end to cut that lead to 16-13 at the first break.
Tyner’s shooting picked up in the second quarter as they made five 3s during that stretch as the lead was 39-25 at the break after Melique Hambrick canned all four of his 3s in the opening half.
The difference was 43-30 following a layup by Amarion Dillard with 4:36 left in the third and that’s when McMinn Central scored six straight points to make it 43-36 following an inside move by Samuel Masingale with 2:07.
Bloodsaw’s slam made it a nine-point spread while back-to-back layups by Sims made it 49-36 early in the fourth stanza.
Another bank shot by Samuel Masingale trimmed the difference to 11, but it never got any closer as Tyner slowly stretched the lead, making nine of 15 free throws down the stretch to keep safe lead.
Hambrick was the only Tyner player in double figures as he finished with 14 points. Keelan Jackson was next with nine while Dillard, Bloodsaw and Sims all had eight points apiece.
Darius Carden scored 16 points to pace the Chargers, who finished at 11-17 after starting the season with six straight wins.
Samuel Masingale was also in double figures with 10 while McCain Baker had nine and Gabe Masingale eight points.
Tyner also had an unofficial 34-32 rebounding edge as Trent Gresham and Jackson both snagged six and Bloodsaw five. Samuel Masingale led the Chargers with eight boards while Gabe Masingale and Carden followed with six each.
Tyner will be at home again on Tuesday to face the Red Bank Lions after the Lions nipped Sequoyah on the road by a 58-57 margin.
SUMMARY
McMINN CENTRAL 13 12 11 12 -- 48
TYNER 16 23 8 18 -- 65
McMINN CENTRAL (48) – Arnwine, Cox, Baker 9, Foote 2, Carden 16, G. Masingale 8, Henderson 3, Rhodes, Cooper, Edmonds, Martinez, S. Masingale 10.
TYNER (65) – Hambrick 14, Gresham 7, Dillard 8, Bloodsaw 8, Ross 3, Holloway 2, Jackson 9, Conyers 4, A. Sims 8, J. Sims 2, Chubb, Ruffin.
3-POINT GOALS: McMinn Central 6 (Carden 4, Baker, G. Masingale); Tyner 8 (Hambrick 4, Jackson 3, Ross).
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)