CLEVELAND — Jadon Yeh did not want his high school career to end without one more shot at the state tournament.
The White County senior scored six points and dished out an assist in overtime to help the Warriors survive a serious upset bid from Lumpkin County in a 58-50 win in the first round of the Region 7-3A Tournament.
Yeh and the Warriors nearly saw their season come to an end in regulation but Lumpkin County’s Stephen Sherrill missed a pair of free throws with 7 seconds left. Yeh had a chance to end it in regulation as well but his running floater rolled off the rim at the buzzer.
“We didn’t want it to end here,” Yeh said. “I missed that shot at the end but that kind of got me fired up for overtime.”
Did it ever. Yeh drained a pair of free throws just 4 seconds into the extra frame, and after a Braxton Anderson 3-pointer, Yeh assisted on a Noah Futch basket and then hit two more free throws to cap a 9-0 run in 95 seconds for a 56-47 lead. The Indians never recovered.
“(Lumpkin’s) box-and-1 defense was tough but I was able to get a drive (at the beginning of overtime) and then the assist and that got us going,” Yeh said. “We needed a game like this. The last few games we’ve played haven’t been close so this is good for the experience now that we’re in the playoffs.”
Early on it looked like the Warriors (15-11) were going to make quick work of the Indians (4-22) jumping out to a 12-0 lead and eventually a 17-2 advantage at the end of the first quarter. But Lumpkin County began to slowly chip away.
The Indians trimmed it 25-12 by halftime and exploded for an 18-point third quarter to pull within 35-30. Two 3-pointers each from Cal Faulkner and Hunter Cooper, including his last one with 53 seconds left, tied the game at 47.
The Indians missed two shots with a chance to take the lead in the final 30 seconds before the missed free throws.
Yeh, who had not scored since the first quarter, finished with 9 points with just one field goal. Anderson paced White County with 20 points. Futch had 9 points and Tripp Nix had two huge 3-pointers in the fourth quarter for his 6 points.
Cooper led Lumpkin County with 21 points. Faulkner had 15, 13 in the second half, and Sherrill and Preston Cox each had 6 points for the Indians.
White County will take on Pickens on Thursday in the semfinals at Dawson County.
PICKENS 75,
DAWSON COUNTY 64
Dawson County came into its Region 7-3A first round matchup against Pickens having swept the Dragons during the regular season.
A third time proved too much on Tuesday. Pickens never trailed and answered every Tigers run before rolling to the win in the first round.
Tigers coach Todd Cottrell said the very thing that pushed them to their two wins over the Dragons is what cost them in the region tournament.
“In the two wins, we got off to a good start. Pickens got the good start in this one and we just couldn’t catch up,” Cottrell said afterwards. “It’s hard to beat a team three times. Give Pickens credit, they did the things you need to do to win.”
Pickens (13-12) jumped out to a 20-9 lead after the end of the first quarter and led 23-9 before Dawson County (9-17) finally caught fire. A 12-2 run pulled the Tigers within 25-21 midway through the second but the Dragons eventually pushed their lead to 34-26 by halftime. Pickens exploded for 20 points in the third quarter and would lead 63-43 with 5:51 left in the game.
The Tigers mounted one last charge getting to within 69-59 on an Ethan Parker stick-back basket with 1:27 left and 73-64 with 16 seconds left on a Caden Reed 3-pointer.
But that’s as close as they could get as Pickens hit 4-of-6 free throws in the final minute.
Reed poured in 26 points and Trey Harvey 19 points to lead Dawson County. Parker had 9 points for the Tigers.
Isaiah Williams paced a balanced Pickens offense with 22 points. Caleb Lanford added 14 points, McCord Purdy 11 points, and Jaden Stewart had 10 points for the Dragons.
Pickens moves on to play White County in Thursday’s semifinals at Dawson County High School.
GILMER 55,
WEST HALL 45
The West Hall boys picked a bad night to go cold.
The Spartans shot less than 30 percent from the field, just 52 percent from the free throw line, and Gilmer took advantage, getting the win in the first round of the Region 7-3A Tournament.
The Bobcats moved on to Thursday's semifinals at Dawson County against No. 1 seed Wesleyan while the Spartans’ season came to a disappointing end.
After trailing by as many as 12 points in the first half and 9 in the second half, West Hall (12-14) rallied to tie the game at 33 and then got within 44-42 late in the fourth quarter. But each time the Bobcats (18-8) answered with key runs.
An Isaiah Holder basket tied the game at 33 in the third quarter but the Bobcats closed out the final 3:23 with a 5-1 run to reclaim the lead. An Owens Jenkins free throw got the Spartans within 44-42 with 2:51 left in the game but Gilmer answered with an 11-1 spurt to put the game away.
“We missed some shots when we had chances to take the lead and just couldn’t get a shot to fall or we turned it over,” West Hall coach Bobby Pless said. “The kids played hard but we told them it would probably come down to one or two possessions and those two little runs they had were the difference.”
West Hall led 5-2 early but Gilmer closed out the first quarter with a 6-0 run and extended it to a 15-0 run into the second for a 20-8 lead. The Spartans climbed back to trail 22-17 but the Bobcats would eventually take a 26-17 halftime lead.
The Spartans tied the game with a 16-7 run to open the third quarter but could never reclaim the lead. They went 0-3 against the Bobcats, including the region tournament, on the season.
Jackson McVey paced Gilmer with 20 points. Ryder Wofford and Will Kiker each had 11 points for the Bobcats.
Quintvous Reid led West Hall with 18 points, 13 coming in the second half rally. Holder and Jenkins each finished with 8 points and Andrew Malin had 6 points for the Spartans.
