LFO boys set to open playoffs on the road
The LFO Warriors will be in the Class AAA state tournament this week, but the Red-and-White will open the playoffs on the road after finishing as the No. 3 seed in the Region 6-AAA tournament at LaFayette High School last week.
ADAIRSVILLE BOYS 69, LFO 65
The third-seeded Tigers, who used a miraculous 4-point play at the buzzer to beat Murray County in a quarterfinal game on Thursday, jumped out to a 14-4 lead midway through the first quarter on Friday and never trailed as they held on to pull the mild upset.
The Warriors fell behind 42-33 at halftime and were down 54-47 after three quarter before continuing to chip away at the deficit in the fourth. They finally tied the game at 62 on a tough shot in the lane by Jamichael Davis with 2:28 remaining. But Kavi Harris drained his third 3-pointer of the quarter and his fifth of the game to put the Tigers back up by three.
An exchange of baskets and misses forced LFO to start fouling with 40 seconds to play. However, they caught a break when Harris missed the front end of a 1-and-1.
Davis made 1 of 2 at the line with 32.7 seconds left,
pulling his team back to within two. Adairsville standout T.J. Printup also missed the front end with 29.2 remaining, but made up for it by blocking a potential go-ahead 3-pointer with 21.5 left on the clock.
However, LFO gave it right back on a turnover seconds
later and had to foul Tre Winters, who made the second of two free throws with 10.4 left on the clock to up the Tigers’ lead back to three at 68-65.
LFO attempted a 3-pointer with five seconds to go, but the shot was off target and Jordan Carson grabbed the rebound for Adairsville and was immediately fouled. He hit the first of two shots with 1.3 seconds left to seal the victory.
Printup battled foul trouble most of the night, but paced the Tigers with 16 points, while Harris provided a huge shot in the arm with 15 points. Winters finished with 13 points and Tre Mitchell added 10.
Davis scored 16 of his gamehigh 31 points in the fourth quarter. Brent Bowman added 16 and Amari Burnett dropped in eight. Five points from Keenan Walker, three by Jayden Dover and two by Kemonte Bowens rounded out the scoring.
LFO BOYS 64, RINGGOLD 55
Facing the tournament’s Cinderella story in Saturday’s consolation game, the Warriors used a huge third quarter to take down the ninth-seeded Tigers.
LFO found itself trailing 29-20 at halftime, but outscored the Tigers 26-9 in the decisive third period. Davis had 11 points in the quarter and finished with a game-high 30.
Walker had a solid afternoon with 15 points, followed by Burnett with nine, Bowman with eight and Dover with two.
LFO (22-3) will travel to Franklin County (14-13) for the first round.