BUFORD — Buford boys basketball coach Eddie Martin knew the early brutal schedule he put his Wolves through would eventually pay dividends.
Alex Jones sank a running jumper with 3 seconds left to give Buford a 61-60 victory over White County Friday night in both teams’ regular season finale at the Buford gym.
After watching his team get two crucial defensive stops in the final 30 seconds and then Jones’ shot hitting nothing but net, Martin was even more convinced.
“Games like that where you have a big lead and then lose it and then come back to win it are the ones you learn from. I think we were able to overcome some things because of the tough schedule we played at the beginning. It’s starting to pay off,” he said. “Definitely.”
White County took the early lead at 4-2 on a Clancy Loudermilk 3-pointer and a Crawford Abernathy free throw. But a 20-4 run into the second quarter gave Buford a 22-8 lead. The Wolves would maintain near double-digit leads for most of the second and third quarter using a tenacious defensive effort, which contributed to cold shooting by the Warriors through the first three quarters.
Buford (13-11, 8-0 Region 8-AAAA) took a 30-20 lead into halftime and a 45-31 lead into the fourth quarter. But the Warriors (17-8, 5-3) finally found their stroke.
After Austin Panks gave the Wolves a 50-37 lead with 6:01 left, White County exploded on a 19-1 run fueled by a pair of 3-pointers from Clay Dockery, a three-point play from Loudermilk, and capped by a running floater from Whit Mauney for a 56-51 lead with 3:06 left.
“We played poorly in the first half but Buford played excellent defense,” White County coach Sam Borg said. “I was proud of how the guys didn’t quit. We finally got some shots to fall and it was a great effort to come back and get the lead.”
“We got in a lot of foul trouble and (White County) was able to take advantage of that,” Martin said. “We knew they were going to make a run with all the shooters they have. But we were able to get a couple of big stops late and that gave us a chance.”
The Wolves used its defense to hold the Warriors to just four free throws over the final three minutes, including one by Bradley Hurst with 8.7 seconds left to give White County a 60-59 lead.
Jones was able to navigate through the White County defense for the game winning shot. Jones was huge down the stretch pouring in eight of his game-high 17 points in the final three minutes.
“We tried to hold on to the ball at the end but we weren’t able to close it out,” Borg said.
Panks finished with 16 points and Will Springer had 15 points for Buford, which was 13-of-17 from the free throw line.
Mauney finished with 16 points to lead White County. Hurst added 13 points and Dockery nine for the Warriors, who were just 21-of-31 from the line for the game.
BUFORD GIRLS 67,
WHITE COUNTY 21
The Class AAAA No. 1-ranked Lady Wolves opened the game with a 30-0 run en route to the win in their Region 8-AAAA and regular season finale.
Buford (20-4, 8-0 Region 8-AAAA) held White County (6-17, 1-7) scoreless in the first quarter for a 22-0 lead. A Rachel Dobbs 3-pointer midway through the second quarter gave the Lady Wolves a 30-0 lead before Abby Watson got the Lady Warriors on the board.
Buford took a 40-3 lead into halftime. The Lady Wolves led 56-10 at the end of the third quarter.
Buford had 10 different players score, led by Jessica Nelson with 12 points. Marissa Bruce addede 10 points and Audrey Weiner and Zikaya Wright had nine points each for the Lady Wolves.
Sakina Wilmont led White County with six points. Abby Watson had four points for the Lady Warriors.
The Lady Wolves already had clinched the top seed in next week’s region tournament. White County will have to participate in Monday’s play-in game playing host to Johnson.
