Heritage boys end season with loss against Pickens
The Heritage Generals got off to a hot start in their Region 7-AAAA tournament opener last Tuesday night, but were not able to maintain the momentum and saw their season come to a close with a 62-46 loss to Pickens at Northwest Whitfield.
It was the Dragons first victory over the Generals in three tries this season.
The fifth-seeded Generals led by as many as eight points in the opening quarter and they would take a 17-11 lead after the first eight minutes of play. Kaleb Gallman was the spark plug for the Navyand-Red as he scored the first 11 points of the game for Heritage.
However, points would be much tougher to come by for the Generals in the second quarter as they were limited to just five in the period.
Two free throws by Pickens’ Jaden Stewart with 4:48 left before halftime put the Dragons back in front, 20-19, and they got 3-point plays from Luke Rogers and Kadyn Hampton down the stretch to take a 28-22 lead into the locker room.
Heritage continued to hang around in the third as a 19-foot Ty Loveless jumper with 1:50 to play sliced Pickens’ lead down to 37-34. But Caleb Keith drained a big 3-pointer for the fourth-seeded Dragons with a minute remaining and Stewart closed out the quarter with a 3-point play to boost his team’s lead to 43-35 going into the fourth.
The Generals tried to grab some momentum at the start of the quarter. They scored five unanswered points and forced two Pickens turnovers to close the gap to 45-40 with 6:01 remaining.
But Camden Dunn stopped their momentum with a clutch 3-pointer and the Dragons would go on an 8-0 run later in the fourth to solidify the victory.
Rogers and Hampton each had 16 points for Pickens, who will face top-seeded Central-Carroll in a semifinal game on Thursday night. The Dragons also qualified for state with the win.
Gallman finished with 18 points and Loveless went for 13. Kaden Swope and Kaleb Biddle each scored five points, while three from Ryan Heet and two by Bryce Travillian closed out the scoring.
Heritage ended the 20212022 season with a 9-14 record.