Huge second half lifts Warriors to first region win
LINDALE — The Gordon Central Warriors have knocked on the door of their first region win multiple times this season, losing three of their 7-AA contests by seven points or less. On Friday night, they were finally able to walk through it by making the plays needed down the stretch to earn a region road victory at Pepperell.
The Warriors put together a huge second half to rally from a halftime deficit to down host Pepperell 67-57 to tally a W in 7-AA play. Gordon Central head coach Derrick Broom said it was great to see his team learn from their previous close calls this season and be able to do what it took to finish off a win on Friday.
“We’ve had three region games that we’ve lost by seven points or less, but we just weren’t finishing in those,” said Broom. “Tonight we were able to do that. The first time we played Pepperell we had 36 turnovers. We were able to cut down on those tonight and then have the composure at the end to get this win. The past three or four games, we’ve just come out and started slow for some reason. We haven’t been starting with the energy or effort we need to. I guess we just have to get down in the game before we start to play. We started slow again tonight, but we came out in the second half, got key stops and made some key baskets. We also hit some big free throws to seal it.”
Gordon Central (4-7, 1-7 in 7-AA) had a tough first quarter as Pepperell (5-11, 1-7 in 7-AA) grabbed control with a hot shooting start. The Dragons led 17-7 after one quarter and built that lead to 21-7 early in the second quarter.
The Warriors started to fight back, however, as they were able to string together a 16-9 run to finish the first half and head to the locker room trailing Pepperell 30-23 at the break.
The third quarter is really where Gordon Central hit their stride as their offense had a huge period, outscoring Pepperell 26-17 to take a 49-47 lead into the fourth quarter. Wyatt York, Kade Steward and Tre Williams took on the
lead roles for the Warriors as they combined for 21 of the team’s 26 points in the quarter.
The fourth quarter was tight throughout with Gordon Central clinging to a 59-57 lead with a couple minutes to play, and their defense rose to the occasion to clamp down and hold Pepperell scoreless for the rest of the contest. In turn, the Warriors were able to knock down some big free throws and get three buckets from Steward to seal the win with a game-ending 8-0 run.
Steward was the leading scorer in the contest with 22 points for Gordon Central. Williams added 18 off the bench, and York was also in double figures with 13.
“That’s about the best bas
ketball I’ve seen Kade play in three and a half years for us,” said Broom. “We know that is what he is capable of, making some big shots, playing hard defense and rebounding. Tre is going to be Tre. He is going to provide depth, rebounding and energy for us off the bench, and that is really what we
need because we aren’t very deep right now on the bench. And Wyatt is going to give you everything he has every single night. He’s going to play hard and do whatever we need him to do.”
Pepperell was led in scoring by Clayton King who tallied 18 points, all coming on his six made 3s. He made
five in the first half before Gordon Central was able to limit him to one over the final two quarters. Kemp Edge added 16 for the Dragons.
The Warriors will look to build off their first region win on Tuesday when they return home to host Fannin County at 7:30 p.m. in another 7-AA matchup.