Tyner's Keilan Holloway drives to the goal against Howard's Mark Greer.
photo by M.A. Locke
Xavier Fisher, Howard’s uber talented point guard, slipped past his Tyner defender and had nothing but daylight to the rim where an eight-point fourth quarter lead awaited his layup. It was a sharpened dagger, one that would likely quell a Rams team in a Region 3AA title for the second year in a row.
Tyner sophomore Keelan Jackson had different plans.
Although, Fisher had dished for easy layups several times on the night as defenders left their men to attend to him, Jackson decided Fisher was too committed and too wide open to pass this one up. Abandoning his man, Jackson sold out to get to a spot before rising from behind to swat away the shot as it drifted towards the bucket.
“It was do-or-die at that point. I wouldn’t have passed it if it was me, so I sold out,” Jackson said.
How big of a play was it?
“I really think if they had scored there, our chances of winning would have been slim. It was a great block on his part. We fought back and fought back, but that would have put back to an eight-point game, and it would have been difficult,” Tyner coach E’Jay Ward admitted.
Instead, Jackson’s block ignited the Rams on an 8-0 run and Malique Hambrick’s free throws with two seconds left iced it as Tyner added a 53-49 region title win over Howard to go with its district crown last week against the same Hustlin’ Tigers.
“Too many missed opportunities and too many missed free throws,” lamented Howard coach James Talley. “They outhustled us and busted their butts to get every crucial ball in the end. They deserved it.”
The win puts Tyner in a host position Monday in the AA Sectional and the Rams will play Upperman in a 7 o’clock tip. Howard must travel to Region 4AA champ York Institute on Monday. Winners of those games will move on the state tournament.
Last year, Tyner beat Howard in the district finals only to turn around and lose to them in region finals and it looked like Howard was more than ready to give a repeat performance. The Hustlin’ Tigers ran off an impressive 15-3 run in the first quarter to lead as much as dozen and taking a 22-12 first quarter lead. The talented triumvirate of Fisher, Meechie Bowen and Kerrick Thorne combined for 19 of those points as Fisher and Bowen each had seven and Thorne showed his versatility with a monster jam and a smooth 3 from up top.
The Rams took the punch and never batted an eyelash as it finally used its so-called “single-digit defense” to jumpstart transition baskets in a 14-4 run to bring back to 28-all at the halftime break. Tyner held Howard to single digits in the quarter, a trademark skill it has employed in all at least one quarter of every game since the postseason began.
“The loss to them last year was something that burned with us, and we paid the price with a loss on the road in the sectional, short of our goal. Playing at home is an important part of reaching our goal. We took it to heart,” said senior Trent Gresham.
Since Ward took over the Tyner program four years ago, the Rams have lost just four times on their home court, and have now won 24 games in a row dating back to 2019. It was a point of emphasis as the postseason began when it became clear that Tyner’s path to a possible state tournament could have them at home until Murfreesboro.
“There aren’t a lot of teams who get the chance to play on their home court all the way till the state tournament, and there it was. I told them the route we were going to take and I wasn’t going to negotiate with them over it,” Ward said. “Howard punched us in the mouth tonight, but the guys weathered the storm. Once we got it back to even at the half, I liked our chances being at home”
Tyner had its first lead of the game in the second half as Latavious Conyers muscled his way to the basket for a 32-31 lead at the 6:00 mark. From there it was back-and-forth the rest of the quarter until Thorne scored on a pair of layups and Fisher drove the lane for a deuce to give Howard a 42-39 lead heading to the fourth. Only Jackson’s long trey for Tyner kept it from being larger and it was just the first of several big plays that would affect the outcome.
Bowen’s rebound and putback gave the Tigers a 46-41 lead. Howard had a chance to make extend it afater a Tyner turnovers, but missed two free throws. Mark Greer rebounded the second miss and got Howard back into a set offense where Fisher got loose for his uncontested layup turned momentum-turning block by Jackson.
Region MVP Amarion Dillard got a layup for Tyner to make it 46-43 and then Jackson forced a turnover on the other end, hustled down the court and got a tip on a missed shot to make it 46-45. Howard then missed front ends of bonus free throws on its next two possessions while Tyner got two freebies from Dillard for the lead at 47-46 and then a beautiful assist from Keilan Holloway, who drove to the basket and wrapped the pass around his defender to a wide open Anthony Sims to extend it to 49-46.
Howard got to back to within 49-48 on a Thorne layin, but Sims tipped a missed shot to himself and then stuck it back in with 2:05 left for the 51-48 lead.
“Holloway reminds me of the way I played. He is small like I was, but he brings so much energy to the game when he is in. He has embraced his role and was a spark for us tonight. Big Ant (Sims) has been battling a knee injury, but the minutes he has been able to get, man, he takes advantage of them. Big plays by both of those guys down the stretch,” Ward added.
Howard had a chance to tie it, but chose to drive it for a deuce, but once again, a Tyner defender came up huge. This time it was Dillard coming out of nowhere to block a Fisher shot out of bounds. Thorne was fouled on the possession, and made one free throw with 41 seconds left to make it 51-49.
Howard had only been called for three fouls in the half and it took all but two seconds of the remaining clock to get the three fouls necessary to put Tyner in the bonus and Hambrick calmly drained both to end it.
The win was Ward’s 85th in just his fourth season at the Ram helm and the team’s 10th straight down the stretch.
“We were down, but never out tonight. My guys allowed us to coach them and get back in it. Late in the game, we got almost every 50/50 ball. They got the job done. A lot of guys stepped up tonight. We really wanted the region title to go along with the district one because we haven’t swept both of them since I’ve been here. I’m just thankful to be able to coach at Tyner Academy,” Ward added.
For the game, Howard hit 43 percent of its shots, but missed 10 of 15 free throws which really hurt its cause. Tyner shot a 39 percent clip but was solid at the line, making 8-of-9 in the final half.
SUMMARY
HOWARD 22 6 14 7 – 49
TYNER 12 16 11 14 – 53
HOWARD (49) – Greer, Dixon 2, Jenkins, Kerrick Thorne 14, Meechie Bowen 12, Xavier Fisher 13, Hall 8, Dupree.
TYNER (53) – Hambrick 2, Gresham6, Amarion Dillard 10, Ross 2, Keelan Jackson 8, Bloodsaw 3, Conyers 9, A.Sims 7, Holloway 6.
3-POINT GOALS: Howard 4 (Bowen 2, Thorne, Hall); Tyner 2 (Jackson 2)
Records: Tyner (21-2), Howard (18-5)
Next up: AA State Sectionals (Upperman (24-5) at Tyner); (Howard at York Institute (20-11)
(Contact James Beach at 1134james@gmail.com)