CLEVELAND — First-ever home playoff game: check.
First-ever home playoff win: check.
The White County boys did not waste their first-ever home playoff game, holding off Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe 54-52 on Wednesday in front of a big crowd at the White County gym in the first round of the Class 3A tournament.
White County had not won any playoff game -- home, away, or neutral site -- since 2002 when the Warriors knocked off Darlington in the first round of the Class 2A playoffs at Floyd College.
The Warriors (16-6) move on to play Sandy Creek, a 78-50 winner over Franklin County, in the second round on Friday at 6 p.m. in Tyrone.
First-year White County coach Robbie Bailey said the histrionics were not lost on the team.
“We’ve talked all year about making history. The kids understand the opportunity in front of them,” Bailey said. “First home playoff game, first home playoff win. Now, they can try and make some more history.”
The history-making event didn’t come without its drama, however, as LFO’s Brent Bowman just missed a floating, potential game-winning 3-pointer at the buzzer. That came after LFO (14-9) had erased a 47-39 White County lead over the last five minutes.
Senior Silas Mulligan, who poured in a team-high 15 points, with 12 coming in the second half, said this group has been looking to make history.
“We always wanted big things for this team,” Mulligan said. “We felt we could do this. But it was also a big sigh of relief when (Bowman) missed that last shot.”
It was a back-and-forth affair most of the way as LFO also was looking to erase a long playoff drought. LFO still has not won a playoff game since 1994.
Both teams were sluggish to start with LFO taking the first lead on a three-point play from Bowman nearly a minute in. White County got its first points moments later on a Cooper Turner basket but LFO pulled out to a 9-5 lead on a Jamichael Davis basket midway through the first quarter.
Jimmy King then got the White County crowd, and the team, going with a dunk that ignited a 10-2 run to end the quarter for a 15-11 lead as four different players scored.
After LFO’s Dee Calhoun cut it to 15-13 to open the second, White County went back to work. Jaden Yeh drained a pair of 3-pointers and Silas Mulligan capped a 13-4 run with a three-point play and a 28-17 lead. White County took a 31-23 lead into the intermission
The White County defense was very active forcing 9 LFO turnovers for 8 points and holding Bowman, LFO’s leading scorer, to just 5 points in the first half.
The defenses picked up the pace in the third quarter as it took five minutes for White County to build a 35-27 lead. But LFO answered with its best spurt to that point with an 8-0 run in barely 80 seconds to tie the game.
White County answered with its own run as Kenny Simpson converted a steal and layup and then King made an acrobatic block of a LFO shot and started a fastbreak that finished with a Cooper three-point play. After another King block, Mulligan sank a floating 3-pointer at the buzzer to end the period with a 43-35 lead.
The Warriors looked to be gaining control with 4:58 left when Mulligan hit a pair of free throws for a 47-39 lead. But LFO’s Calhoun started and finished a 13-5 run with a pair of baskets to tie the game at 52 with 1:11 left.
Mulligan reclaimed the lead for White County with an offensive stickback basket with 57 seconds left. Reece Dockery had a chance to ice the game for the Warriors but missed the front end of a 1-and-1 attempt with 24 seconds left, setting up the final sequence.
“These kids just refused to lose,” Bailey said. “Jimmy King gives us big contributions every game. He does a lot for us. It wasn’t pretty but we moved on.”
Turner finished with 13 points and Yeh, who battled a pinky injury during the game and foul trouble, had 9 for the Warriors. King had 4 points but added 4 blocks and 3 huge steals.
Davis led LFO with a game-high 17 points. Calhoun had 13 and Cameron Gregg also had 13, 11 coming in the second half with three 3-pointers to shoot them back into the game. Bowman had 9 points.
