JACKSONVILLE – Defense saved the day for the Cherokee County Warriors in their Class 4A Northeast Basketball Regional semifinal game against Priceville on Saturday evening at Jacksonville State University’s Pete Mathews Coliseum.
The win sends the Warriors to the regional final against top-ranked Westminster Christian on Wednesday at 2:15 p.m.
“It was just a heck of a high school basketball game. We were fortunate to come out on the good end,” Cherokee County coach Neal Wester said. “It could have gone either way, but we made a couple of big plays there down three. We just made a couple of more plays than they did.”
For the better part of three quarters, it didn’t appear as if the Warriors (25-7) would need a defensive stand down the stretch to secure their first regional final berth since 2008. They built an 11-point lead at 38-27 with 3:04 left in the third quarter on a basket and foul shot by Chris Roden. The Warriors still led by nine at 40-31 following a pair of Nahum Horton free throws with 7:04 left in the game, but that’s when the Bulldogs (22-10) made a run and eventually took the lead.
The Warriors went without any points until 2:09 left in the contest on a steal and a layup by Quartez Henderson, but before that basket, Priceville had gone on a 12-0 run to take a 43-40 lead.
Henderson’s bucket trimmed the Warrior deficit to one at 43-42, then a steal by Jacob Graves led to a pair of foul shots by Joel Wester with 1:37 to go, putting the Warriors back out in front 44-43.
A missed jumper by the Bulldogs’ Marc Anthony McClendon on the other end was rebounded by Horton. Following a Warrior timeout, Henderson was fouled and sent to the line to shoot a pair of free throws.
Henderson missed the first, but made the second, extending Cherokee County’s lead by one at 45-43 with 24 seconds remaining.
Haynes missed a 3-pointer on the other end, which Graves snatched for a rebound, but he lost the ball out of bounds. That gave the Bulldogs the ball underneath their own goal with 9.6 seconds remaining.
Austin Smith in-bounded the ball, but it was forced back out of bounds by the Warriors. Smith in-bounded once again to Parker Gwin, who found an open Haynes driving to the basket. With several Warrior defenders collapsing around him, Haynes rushed a layup that fell short as time expired.
“That’s a tough way to lose it,” Priceville coach Darrell Haynes said. “We had a chance. Maybe the first time these guys having been here, maybe nerves had something to do with the way we played. Cherokee County had something to do with that also. We dug a hole early and didn’t play well in the first half, but we were somehow able to keep it six points at the half. We did a little better in the second half. We were up three there the last couple of minutes, but we just couldn’t string it together.”
As Coach Haynes said, the Bulldogs trailed by a 31-25 margin at halftime, and maintained a 38-31 advantage heading into the fourth. The Warriors’ scoring drought began with just a little under seven minutes to go in the game.
“We kind of got stuck and quit scoring for a while, but they had a lot to do with that,” Coach Wester said. “They were playing good defense. We kind of got down there with 2 1/2 minutes there, down three like we were the night of the sub-region game (against Saks), but our guys just kind of stayed with it and kept their composure. We got a couple of defensive plays and that’s kind of what did it for us.”
Joel Wester led the Warriors with 13 points, including three treys. He was held to just two points in the second half.
“We started out really hot,” the senior guard said. “We were fired up and our shots were falling. They stopped falling, but we just had to hang in there and rely on our defense. We held them to 43 (points), and if we can hold them to 43, then we can usually get more than that. We just went to our defense when our shots weren’t falling. Down the stretch, we just kept battling.”
Tyren Dupree added 12 points, seven rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot. Henderson had eight points, six boards, four assists and three steals. Horton finished with six points, 14 rebounds, two blocks, two steals and an assist.
“We just try to base our game on defense,” Dupree said. “We know we can score, but as long as we play good defense we feel pretty good about how the game will come out.”
Gwin led Priceville with 10 points. Smith added seven points. Kyle Haynes had six points, eight boards, two assists and two steals. McClain Thompson finished with six points.
With Saturday’s win secured, the Warriors can turn their attention to top-ranked Westminster Christian. The Warriors lost to the Wildcats 43-38 in last year’s regional semifinals. The two teams have already met once this season, with the Warriors claiming a 65-51 victory in the Albertville Christmas Tournament semifinals on Dec. 29.
“We’re looking forward to the challenge and we’re excited to be in the next round,” Coach Wester said. “We’re proud of that, but at the same time I don’t think our guys are satisfied at all. We’ll go back to the drawing board, try to get better next week, and come back and play a little better.”