Signal Mountain tops Tyner in 6-AA
Signal Mountain sweeps District 6-AA titles
As far as building projects are concerned, the one just turned in by the Signal Mountain boys’ basketball team came in well under its expected completion date.
Just two years ago the Eagles were putting the finishing touches on a 4-30 season. Tuesday night at Howard they found themselves at midcourt, celebrating a surprising District 6-AA tournament championship following a 46-40 win over Tyner.
“This is by far the biggest win we’ve ever had,” Signal Mountain coach Steve Redman said. “We have a lot of those guys from two years ago still here. We started as many as four freshmen that year, so they have been through the mill.”
The win completed a sweep of district titles. Kendra Bell’s Lady Eagles won a back-and-forth game with Red Bank, 47-45.
Both Signal Mountain teams will host Sequoyah in the region tournament, the girls Friday at 7, the boys Saturday at 7. The Red Bank girls will host Sweetwater on Friday and Tyner will host Loudon on Saturday.
The Signal boys (19-12), who lost by four and six points to the Rams (16-10) in the regular season, scored the game’s final six points over the last two minutes to earn the historic championship. In that span the Eagles benefited from a controversial call and came out on top in the game’s most critical play.
Signal led 42-40 after a Jarren Radden drive with 1:59 to play, but on the ensuing possession Tyner’s Javon Craddock was fouled after taking a 3-point shot. The foul was ruled to have occurred after Craddock had finished his follow-through.
The Rams then had two offensive rebounds off 3-point shots, but after the third shot the Eagles’ Wil Allen came away with the ball and spotted a wide-open Silvestro Silvestro for a layup and four-point lead with 35 seconds left.
“We had been close all year and I told them a shot here or a play there would do it,” Redman said. “The mad scramble where there were bodies on the floor and we ended up with a layup was the difference tonight.”
Tyner turned the ball over seconds later, with Allen sealing it with a pair of free throws.
Silvestro had 12 of his game-high 17 points in the first half, while Radden added 14 points, a gamebest 11 rebounds and four steals.
“Everyone doubted us this year and most people were thinking just get to region, but we had a mindset from the start to go further,” Radden said. “We’ve never been past the first round of the region, so that’s our next goal.”
Solomon Bridgeman led Tyner with 15 points and nine rebounds.
In the two-point victory for the Signal girls (19-11), Jolie McGann led the way with 13 points and blocked a potential game-winning 3-pointer from Red Bank’s Shelby Romans at the buzzer. Olivia Koontz added 11 points and Mary Witherspoon had 10 for the Lady Eagles, while Jasmine Roberts and Layla Babb led Red Bank (22-5) with 14 each.