Belgreen High School took home the title in the varsity boys division of the 2014 Franklin County Tournament. Photo by Bart Moss.

By Bart Moss

For the FCT

Championship Game: Belgreen 76, Tharptown 63

In a tournament full of twenty point plus wins, the last game of the Franklin Tournament was a breath of fresh air as Belgreen beat Tharptown by a 13-point margin.

The Belgreen Bulldogs were, in most minds, the favorite to win the tournament. The Tharptown Wildcats had a plan to pull off the upset and executed the plan exceptionally well for much of the game. The Bulldogs, however, were just too strong in the end and pulled away to win the varsity boys’ Franklin County championship by a score of 76-63.

Belgreen led Tharptown 22-18 at the end of the first quarter. The Wildcats closed the gap to five, 37-32, at halftime.

Tharptown kept fighting out of the locker room in the second half and tied the game up 37-37 with 5:52 remaining in the third quarter.

It was at that point that the Bulldogs asserted control in the game going on a 13-0 run. The Bulldogs extended their second half lead to as much as 17 points.

Tharptown was able to cut Belgreen’s lead to eight with 1:38 to go in the game but that was as close as the game would get.

Chase Landers and Josh Devaney scored a combined 52 of Belgreen’s 76 points scoring 26 points each. Ben Inman added 14 points, Dustin Smith scored six points and Will Barnwell added four points.

Max Nolan and Kelby Hallmark led Tharptown with 21 and 20 points respectively. Hallmark scored 15 of his points in the first half.  Others scoring for Tharptown were Blake Gray (9), Drake Lawson (5), Nathan Chaney (3), John Staggs (3) and Riley Nolen (2).

Semi-Finals: Red Bay 71, Vina 34

The Red Bay Tigers jumped out to a 44-17 halftime lead and coasted on to an opening round victory over the Vina Red Devils.

Red Bay had three scorers in double-figures: Barry Reach scored 17 points, Isaiah Jackson scored 13 points, and Kyle Fuller added 12 points. Others scoring for the Tigers were Austin Milam (2), Fred Netherly (4), Nick Thorn (4), Tate Ozbirn (2), Keenan Sparks (2), Jeff Gresham (4), Ricky Esparza (6).

Vina had one scorer in double-figures: Andrew Hester scored 12 points. Others scoring for the Red Devils were Joseph Emerson (5), Chance Griffith (2), Larry Haithcock (3), Daniel Wooten (2), and Kevin Steele (3).

Semi-Finals: Belgreen 97, Red Bay 50

The top-seeded Belgreen Bulldogs asserted their intentions in their first game of the Franklin County Tournament. The Bulldogs jumped out to a 29-4 first quarter lead and proceeded to score twenty-plus points in each quarter in the lopsided win.

Belgreen had five scorers in double-figures: Ben Inman scored 23 points, Dustin Smith scored 22 points, Chase Landers scored 14 points, Josh Devaney scored 11 points, and Will Barnwell scored 10 points. Other Bulldogs scoring were Dakota Davis (6), Hugo Castillo (6), Adam Borden (3), and Jarod Mitchell (2).

Nick Thorn led Red Bay with 12 points. Other Tigers scoring were Barry Reach (9), Isaiah Jackson (8), Fred Netherly (4), Kyle Fuller (4), and Jesus Kelley (2).

Semi-Finals: Tharptown 70, Phil Campbell 47

The Tharptown Wildcats came out strong against the Phil Campbell Bobcats building a 17-11 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Wildcats extended the lead to 35-25 at halftime. A 14-5 run in the third quarter gave the Wildcats a 49-30 lead as they were able to coast to a date with top seed Belgreen in the finals.

Tharptown had three players in double-figures: Max Nolen led all scorers with 17 points. Kelby Hallmark added 16 points and Blake Gray added 13 points. Others scoring for the Wildcats were Drake Lawson (5), Riley Nolen (5), Christian Garcia (3), Nathan Chaney (9), and John Staggs (2).

Skyler Tackett led Phil Campbell with 13 points. Others scoring for the Bobcats were Bailey Motes (8), Tommy Reed (9), Nathan Duncan (6), Colton Vickery (5), and Ryan Saint (6).