Lafayette boys set to open playoffs at home
It was a hard-fought, intense and, at times, a fairly physical battle. But in the end, the top-seeded Lafayette Ramblers would stave off a gritty performance by Heritage to pick up a 58-53 win in the semifinals of the Region 6-AAAA tournament at Southeast Whitfield High School on Friday night.
Lafayette, seeing its first action of the week thanks to a bye into the semifinals as the regular season champions, led 24-16 at halftime. They would lead by as many as nine points in the third quarter and maintained a seven-point advantage for most of the period.
However, the Generals refused to let the Ramblers get too far away and a buzzer-beating 3-pointer cut the Lafayette advantage to 3734 entering the final period of play.
The Ramblers would answer as the fourth quarter began. Decameron Porter threw down a vicious one-handed slam from the baseline and Junior Barber scored on two straight possessions before a steal led to a 3-point play by Aidan Hadaway that gave Lafayette a 48-38 cushion as the clock ticked under four minutes to play.
Lafayette would continue to milk the clock over the next couple of possessions. Point guard Jaylon Ramsey showed off his handles before driving the lane and dishing it off to Asa Deal for an easy bucket that gave the Ramblers a seemingly comfortable 51-42 lead with just over 90 seconds remaining.
Ramsey would hit 5 of 6 free throws in the fourth quarter to help keep his team in the lead, but Heritage refused to go quietly. A 3-pointer with 46 seconds left trimmed Lafayette’s lead to 56-51 and the Generals would catch a break when the Ramblers missed inside in the paint with just over thirty seconds to play.
However, the Generals could not connect on a followup 3-pointer on either one of its next two possessions and Barber would drain two free throws with 12 seconds
RAMBLERS,