Green, Lions too much for Eagles in district final
CARLISLE — Friday’s first half saw two teams match each other almost point-for-point, but England senior guard Warren Green used four 3-pointers in the third quarter to spark a run that buried Cutter Morning Star to give the Lions a 69-47 win in the 2A-5 South district final at Bison Arena.
Green hit his first trey of the game 22 seconds into the second half and his second at the 6:13 mark to give the Lions (22-5, 13-1) a 33-21 lead before junior forward Ethan Dixon responded with a 3-pointer of his own at the 5:26 mark. A mistimed swipe at the ball by senior guard Rhett Barrett sent England senior guard Tyler Woods to the line for two shots, but Dixon again responded with a bucket to put the Eagles (16-9, 10-4) back within nine points at 35-26 with 4:39 remaining in the third.
“They came out, and then 0 (Green) got it going,” said Cutter Morning Star head boys’ basketball coach Matt Carter. “It wasn’t like we were sitting there laying off of him. He was getting contested shots, and it just kind of snowballed from there.
“Fatigue had a little bit to do with it, but England was just better. They were just better tonight, but we know where we want to be, sitting right here next year hopefully again. We’re still moving on next week, so hopefully we’ll get our legs back underneath us, play off the momentum we’ve built at the end of this season and go maybe make the state tournament this next week.”
Green then sparked a 14-2 run to close out the period to give the Lions a 49-28 lead going into the final eight minutes.
“He struggled here the last couple games,” said England head coach Chris Houser. “We played two games here this season, and he hit only one three
last night.
“We really needed him to get going. He’s a senior leader for us, and I was real happy that he was able to get going for us and knock some shots down in the second half. It made a big difference.”
Cutter Morning Star junior guard Ryan Brown hit a shot eight seconds into the final period to pull the Eagles back within
19 points, but a 10-2 stretch by the Lions moved the spread out to 59-32 with just under three minutes off the clock. Junior forward Austin Yandell finally got the Eagles back on the board with 3:40 to go with his first bucket of the game.
The two teams matched each other point-for-point over the next two minutes before Carter put in his bench. The Eagles cut the deficit throughout the final two minutes as two treys by senior guard Keaton Polke and one by senior guard Jordan Raper were matched by two-point buckets to set the final.
England won, 65-54, at Eagle Fieldhouse on Nov. 30 and won, 57-48, against the Eagles on the Lions’ home court on Jan. 11.
“We knew it was going to be difficult to beat anybody three times, especially them being the No. 2 seed,” Houser said. “They played us close at our place. We had to put on a big run in the second half there to come away with a win. They had us down in the second half.
“We knew it was going to be a tough battle. It’s tough to beat anybody three times, and they’ve been playing really well. They played really well this week in the tournament, so we knew it was going to be a tough one.”
Woods scored the first points of the game at the 5:34 mark with Dixon making a layup a minute later to knot the score. It was not until the 2:47 mark the score changed again with a three-point play by junior forward Tamarous Dodson pushing the Lions out to a 5-2 lead. England led, 7-6, going into the second quarter.
England held a 13-10 lead before a 7-1 run by Cutter Morning Star. The Lions used an
8-0 run of their own to go ahead, 22-17, with
2:15 remaining in the first half.
“Our defensive focus was trying to take away their best guard, No. 11 (Brown),” Houser said. “I felt like we did a pretty good job on him. He got loose a couple times there at the end of the half, and they took the lead.
“I thought we responded really well and came back and took the lead ourselves and took the momentum going into halftime. That was big, the way we responded to their run there at the end of the half.”
Junior guard Kevante Davis set the halftime score with three free throws after being fouled on a 3-point attempt as time expired.
“It was a good half of ball if you wanted to watch good basketball,” Carter said. “I thought both teams played pretty well, executed well.
“I thought the teams were playing hard, rebounding the ball, doing things right. Like I said, it just took about three minutes for it to get away from us in the second half and just fizzled from there.”
Green paced the Lions with 16 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals. Davis added 14 points with three steals and two assists, and Dodson earned a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds with a pair of steals. Woods and junior forward Marvin Shavers put up eight each with seven rebounds, two assists and two steals by Woods.
Brown led all scorers with 17 points and seven rebounds. He was the only Eagle in double digits.
Dixon added nine points with eight rebounds and a steal, while Polke had six points on a pair of 3-pointers and Raper put up three. Barrett had five rebounds and two assists, Sam Moore had four rebounds and Chris Kennedy also grabbed four rebounds.
“I thought our other kids, a lot of them stepped up and tried to do some different things tonight,” Carter said. “I was proud of Jordan and Keaton to get in there and hit a few shots. That was big for them. I thought our other kids that came in there late played hard.
“We need to utilize our bench a little more, and that falls back on me. I’ve got to do a better job of that. It was good to see everybody get in there and contribute. We’ve just got to move on from this one though. It’s over. We’ve got to focus on getting one win next week.”
The Eagles earned the top seed in this week’s 2A-Central regional tournament at Quitman. They will face the No. 3 seed from the 2A-5 North at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday.