CLEVELAND — It was not the way Jadon Yeh and the White County seniors were hoping to go out.
The two-time Region 7-3A Player of the Year and the Warriors were looking for their third straight first round playoff win Wednesday against Hebron Christian in the Class 3A playoffs. Instead, White County was as cold as the Arctic Ocean while the Lions were red-hot from the field nearly from the start, rolling to a 74-55 win at the White County gym.
“We had a rough start and they shot the ball well and we were just playing from behind the whole time,” Yeh said. “We were definitely hoping to go a little deeper for sure, especially after getting to the second round the last two years.”
Hebron Christian, the No. 4 seed from Region 8-3A, moves on to play Douglas-Atlanta, the No. 3 seed out of Region 5-3A.
Yeh, who has started since his freshman year, said the goal for his class was to leave the program in better shape than they found it.
“I think we did that,” he said. “Three straight playoffs, two playoff wins, our first region championship (last week). We feel good about where things are for the future. We just wish we had played better tonight.”
To the Warriors’ credit, they went out playing their up-tempo style and shooting 3-pointers. The problem was Hebron beat them at their own game. The Lions went a blistering 12-of-24 (50 percent) from long range, while White County was a dismal 6-of-28 (21.4 percent) from 3-point range for the game.
Hebron Christian came out firing, using 3-pointers from Justin Bartleson and Jelani Smith-Mason and a fastbreak dunk by Blake Wilson to run out to a 12-3 lead in the first 3:49 of the game.
Meanwhile, the Warriors were ice cold, missing 9 of their first 10 shots as the Lions pushed their lead 22-8 on a 3-pointer from Devon McField with just over a minute left in the first quarter.
Yeh, who had been held to just a pair of free throws, finally got hot, hitting a 3-pointer and getting an offensive stickback at the buzzer to cut the lead to 22-13. Yeh hit another 3-pointer early in the second to pull the Warriors within 24-16. That’s as close as they would get the rest of the way.
The Lions answered with an 8-3 run, capped by a MaTaj Glover 3-pointer for a 32-19 lead. White County cut the lead back under 10 at 32-23 but Hebron closed out the half with a pair of baskets to take a 36-23 lead into the break.
White County was just 8-of-28 from the field in the first half and just 4-for-17 from 3-point range. Hebron was 5-of-12 from long distance but also used a huge rebounding advantage for 10 points inside.
The Lions got another 3-pointer from Glover to open the second half but Noah Futch scored and Braxton Anderson hit a trey to pull White County within 39-28 early in the third quarter. But Glover hit two more 3-pointers to push the lead to 47-32 and the Warriors never recovered.
“We came out hot in the third quarter I thought and when we got within (10 or 11) I thought it was going to be like last year when we made that big second half comeback,” Yeh said. “But they are a good team and they made shots and we didn’t.”
A Yeh 3-pointer with 2:00 minutes left in the game trimmed the lead to 66-55 but the Lions hit 6-of-6 free throws down the stretch to preserve the win.
Yeh finished with 28 points for White County. Futch had 10 points for the Warriors.
Glover paced Hebron with 17 points. Wilson had 16 points and Mason 14 points for the Lions.
