Dragons continue trend, win another tight one
♦ Pepperell makes clutch plays down the stretch to beat Coosa in final game of regular season
Staying true to form of late, the Pepperell Dragons once again had a game come down to the final few possessions and once again found a way to win it at the end on Friday.
Pepperell made a string of clutch plays in the last couple minutes, including buckets by Eliot Goggans and Landon Lockwood as well as a crucial free throw by Alex Rhoades with 10.1 seconds remaining, to pull off a tight 53-52 victory at Coosa to end the regular season on a high note.
After leading 38-36 going to the fourth, the Dragons (11-12, 6-8 7-A Division I) pushed their lead to as much as seven multiple times early in the final period, including a 46-39 advantage. But Coosa battled right back with a 7-0 run to tie it at 46-46 and set up a wild, back-and-forth ending.
Coosa’s Ashton Williams tied it up twice after that with crucial buckets, but backto-back scores by Goggans and Lockwood put Pepperell up 52-48 with just under a minute to play. After Coosa’s Joseph Richardson pulled his team within two with a converted shot with 37.1 seconds left, Pepperell ran off several seconds with possession as the Eagles had to foul several times to get the Dragons into the bonus.
Rhoades stepped to the line with 10.1 seconds remaining and knocked down 1-of-2 free throws, and Coosa’s 3-point attempt on the ensuing possession was no good. The Eagles got a put-back off the miss, but it wasn’t enough as the Dragons held on for the one-point win.
“You almost don’t like to say this that we’ve been in so many of these kind of games this year, but we have and we know every single possession matters,” said Pepperell head coach Zach Mendence. “Our older guards have really been leaders for us with DJ (Rogers) coming so far this season, Gage (Owens) working his way back in and Landon (Lockwood) playing big minutes tonight. We just made plays to win it. I know our kids are going to go all out all the time. You think about the
plays at the end like Alex’s big free throw, but there are a lot of possessions earlier in the game that lead to the end.”
The game started out with a close first quarter as a precursor for what was to come as neither side led by more than six in the period. Coosa (10-14, 6-8) led 14-8 before Pepperell closed out the quarter on a 7-0 run to take a 15-14 lead to the second.
The second quarter was much of the same as each team proceeded to answer the other with buckets. Coosa led 25-21 late in the period before Pepperell once again reeled off a nice run, this time a 5-0 spurt, to go up 26-25. The Eagles’ Timbaland Mitchell then hit a 3-pointer to put his team up 28-26 at the half.
Rogers played a big role in the third quarter, scoring seven of Pepperell’s 12 points, to put his team up 38-36 going to the final quarter to set up the thrilling ending.
Rogers led the Dragons with 15 points, including 10 in the second half and three 3s. Rhoades contributed a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds, and Lockwood was the third scorer in double figures with 11 points, including five in the fourth quarter.
Kaleb Buck also had a careerhigh 11 rebounds, and Goggans scored six points.
“Our seniors have played three years and been in a lot of games like this, and our younger guys are stepping up big-time right now,” said Mendence. “I think that’s now six games for us that have been decided by one possession. I’m trusting my guys a lot more than I did at the beginning of the year that they know how to handle these end-game situations. We are definitely getting the most out of our players. We have five guys on the court, whoever they are, playing hard together and making winning plays that don’t happen unless you are playing together. That’s true team basketball.”
Coosa was led by Richardson with 16 points, including eight in the fourth quarter. Williams and DJ Hames each reached double figures as well with 10 points apiece, and Mitchell added nine.
Pepperell will now enter the Region 7-A Division I Tournament at Armuchee High as the No. 5 seed and take on Dalton Academy in the opening round on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.
“We wanted to play this game tonight like it was a region tournament game and play like it was a lose and go home situation,” said Mendence. “That’s the mentality we played with so that we would be ready to play like that next week at the region tournament.”
Coosa will be the No. 6 seed in the region tournament and face No. 7 seed Armuchee in the opening round on Wednesday at 8:30 p.m.