Warriors’ season ends with loss at Pepperell
LINDALE — The Gordon Central Boys lived up to their name on Thursday night as they battled like true Warriors in the closing minutes after a tough start to their Region 7-AA Tournament opening-round game on the road against Pepperell, but unfortunately for the visitors, the hole was a little too big to dig out of as they saw their season come to a difficult end.
Gordon Central trailed by a 17 points to open the final quarter and by as many as 20 in the period but refused to go away quietly, putting together a furious rally to pull within five in an effort to keep their season alive, but Pepperell did enough down the stretch to stop the Warriors’ potential comeback and hold on for a 65-55 victory to advance to the quarterfinals of the tournament.
The Warriors (4-13) struggled from the opening tip on Thursday, finding themselves down 17-4 after one quarter and 30-15 at the half. Pepperell (814) continued the momentum in the third quarter and eventually built a 51-34 lead going into the fourth. After allowing a 3-pointer to the Dragons to open the final quarter to push the lead to 20, Gordon Central began their methodical rally attempt, which included a 12-0 run at one point and eventually dwindled Pepperell’s lead down to 5752 on a put-back by Walker Angland midway through the quarter.
The Dragons grabbed the momentum back, however, with Kemp Edge making 4-of-6 free throws as well as a breakaway lay-up to put the game out of reach in the final minute.
“Starting out so poorly really hurt us,” said Gordon Central head coach Derrick Broom. “But as bad as we played in the first half, we were still only down 15 at the half. Then our guys just flat-out fought their butts off in the fourth quarter to get us back in the game. Foul trouble hurt us some, but Walker (Angland) stepped up and provided us a spark. He played as well as he has played in his career for us and some other guys made some big plays also. It was great to see our guys battle like they did tonight, but we just can’t wait until the second half to start playing that way. We needed to do it a little earlier, but it just wasn’t our night.”
Leading the scoring for Gordon Central was Mac McDaniel and Kade Steward, who each contributed 14 points. The pair made four 3-pointers each, including three of those during the fourth-quarter comeback attempt. Angland was also in double figures for the Warriors with 10 points off the bench, and Wyatt York added seven.
Steward and York were among the seniors that saw their Gordon Central basketball career come to an end with the heartbreaking loss. Broom said it’s always incredibly tough for a coach to see his seniors play their final game, especially a group that has worked as hard as this one.
“You always hate to see the seniors’ last game be a loss,” said Broom. “All the seniors that played big minutes for
us this year gave this team everything they had. We had a couple seniors that didn’t play much too, but they still came to practice every day, worked hard and tried to make their teammates better. These seniors leave a large hole to fill, and we will definitely miss them next year.”
Hunter Henderson was the top scorer in the game as he scored 15 for the Dragons with 12 coming
in the second half. Ben Whelchel added 13 for Pepperell, and Edge and DJ Rogers also scored in double figures with 11 apiece.
The Dragons advanced to the 7-AA quarterfinals on Friday against Dade County with the win with a Class AA State Tournament berth on the line. After playing the opening round at Pepperell, the remainder of the tournament will be played at Chattooga High.
Broom said several underclassmen made an impact in both Thursday’s game as well as several others this season. He said he looks forward to seeing what they can
accomplish next year, but they have to put in the work this offseason to have the success they are capable of in 2021-22.
“Mac (McDaniel) is a great kid and a great shooter and made some big shots for us this season,” said Broom. “Walker will be a senior next year, and he has improved tremendously. He knows his role on this team and does whatever it takes to help us. Blake Broome is another kid that plays hard all the time for us, and that’s what it’s going to take all the younger guys we have is to learn that no matter what happens in the game you have to continue to fight and play hard.
“One of the big things we need to focus on this offseason is free throws. Our free-throw shooting cost us several games this year. We’ve got a long way to go on that and a lot of work to do this summer on everything to get better.”