Keilon Holoway couldn’t quite get to the ball in the scramble drill, so he did the best thing he could think of in that moment. The Tyner guard tipped the ball to himself, slightly ahead of where he was. He then caught up to the rock, drove straight into traffic like a Fast and Furious character, and used his left hand to lay the ball in as he was being assaulted.
That was the start of four straight layups for the Rams in a second quarter that saw them take a double-digit lead.
Amorion Dillard and Trent Gresham both ran the wing with aplomb and sliced their way to the rim in Tyner’s eventual 62-47 home win over Red Bank, who seemed to have a lid on the rim all game.
“This is wonderful,” coach E’Jay Ward said. “The situation favors us because we’ve been able to host in the district and region tournaments. This is why winning the regular season and district is important, because I like our chances at home.”
Dillard was a force from the start, with the smaller guard erasing a Red Bank shot with an awesome contest on the very first play of the game. He followed that up by hanging in transition and scoring an acrobatic layup, and then having the wherewithal to stick around and score another layup right afterward. Red Bank’s Kel Eddins finally broke through Tyner’s hyperactive defense after three minutes with a wing triple from deeper than usual range.
From there, the two teams traded baskets. Tyner got most of theirs’ in the open court, with Melique Hambrick busting out a nasty hesitation around midcourt to scoot past his defender en-route to a slick finish at the rim. Meanwhile, Red Bank was content to pass the ball around the perimeter and into Cam Bell in search of good possessions. They seemed to momentarily figure out Tyner’s aggressive man defense, with Taylor Swanson nailing another three, and Haden Spurgeon sticking with it for a putback after Tyner’s defenders were caught out of position.
Anthony Sims enjoyed a rare halfcourt possession to answer with an old-school drop step to the baseline for a finish, and then Dillard popped in an offensive rebound after his own miss and then followed that up with another layup a few second afterward. Red Bank momentarily took a 13-12 lead following a Nick Smith trey from the corner, but Eddin’s exceptional block toward the end of the quarter was in vain as Red Bank turned the ball over shortly thereafter and gave Dillard a buzzer-beating layup.
“We’ve been leaning on him a lot offensively,” coach Ward said. “He’s been coming through late in games. He’s a senior man, so he’s been there before and I’m glad he came out healthy. He slashes and can play around the rim a lot. Those kinds of buckets are the kind we need down the stretch.”
The second quarter was a clinical display of man-to-man pressure defense done right. Holloway fired a quick outlet to Nehemiah Blacksaw for a hanging layup, and then Blacksaw used elongated Giannis-esque steps to get two more in transition after that. After Cam Bell knocked down a jumper from up top, Tyner went on their scintillating run to take over the game. Red Bank could barely bring the ball up the floor as Tyner ran up points in a hurry, with the Lions blowing layups the few times they found themselves with a back-cutting opportunity. The halftime score read 32-20 in favor of the home team.
The Red Bank Lions snapped out of their funk in the second half, but the only issue for the visitors was that the host never delved into a malaise of their own. Every time Bell would put in a hook shot or Spurgeon would use a change of pace hesi to get to the rim, Tyner would answer with a couple of baskets of their own. Holloway and Hambrick were magnificent when handling Red Bank’s pressure defense, and no amount of hounding could force the Rams into committing backbreaking errors.
Bigman Keelan Jackson was like a combination of Bill Russell and a cyborg on the Tyner backline, which was necessary for a team who prides itself on running around and taking risks on defense. Whenever the Lions got a shot in close, they usually blew it because Jackson was there to either swat it away or change the trajectory of the ball.
“He’s been a force to reckon with on defense,” coach Ward said, “and he does a great job rebounding and he blocks shots, and that’s big for us getting to the substate. ”
Dillard made one final push in the fourth quarter as Red Bank made their last-ditch attempt at rallying. He threw in a three pointer from the wing, followed by a stop and go midrange jumper, and finally capped off his scoring with two more transition layups. Meanwhile, Eddins put home a couple of long-range bombs for Red Bank, but they could never seem to break past that double-digit margin.
“At this point, a win is a win,” coach Ward said. “It’s survive and advance.”
Tyner will host Howard for the Region Final on Thursday. Tip is at 7:00 p.m.
SUMMARY
RED BANK 13 7 16 11 - 47
TYNER 14 18 18 12 - 62
RED BANK (47) - Barber 2, Swanson 8, Kel Eddins 15, Cam Bell 11, Spurgeon 6, Smith 5.
TYNER (62) - Melique Hambrick 13, Gresham 8, Amorion Dillard 18, Bloodsaw 8, Holoway 6, Jackson 5, Conyers 2, Sims 2.
3-POINT GOALS: Red Bank 8 (Eddins 5, Swanson 2, Smith 1); Tyner 2 (Jackson, Hambrick).
(If you would like to contact the author, you can do so at Joseph.a.dycus@gmail.com)