By Bart Moss. Belgreen’s Chase Landers helped lead the Bulldogs to a victory against Sumiton Christian on Tuesday and advance to Friday’s region finals.

By Bart Moss

For the FCT

Chase Landers scored 32 points on Tuesday to lead the Belgreen Bulldogs to the finals of the Northwest Regionals.

Landers hit 12 of 24 field goals including six three-pointers as Belgreen defeated the Sumiton Christian Eagles 66-48 getting Belgreen one step closer to a Final Four berth in Birmingham.

Josh Devaney added 15 rebounds and seven assists in the winning effort.

“We played a pretty solid game, I thought,” said Belgreen coach Patrick Odom.

“They guarded Chase closely early on but they didn’t seem to stay with their early game plan. We moved the ball in transition, rebounded well, and got the open shots.

“We are one step closer to our goal of getting to the state championship. We are right where we want to be. We will play a very good team in Parrish. We will have to play our best game of the year. That’s the way it is supposed to be at this time of the year.”

Both teams came out strong in the first quarter with the intent to run the court looking for a quick first shot. The game was tied 14-14 at the end of the first period of play.

Belgreen led 29-21 with just over a minute to go in the first half and led 34-30 at halftime.

The Bulldogs quickly extended their lead to 38-30 early in the second half.

With 2:52 to go in the third quarter, a Landers’ three-point shot gave the Bulldogs their first double-digit lead 48-36. They led the Eagles 51-42 at the end of the third quarter.

Belgreen outscored Sumiton Christian 15-6 in the fourth quarter to seal the win.

Will Barnwell followed Landers, scoring 11 points on the night, and Ben Inman added 10 points. Others scoring for Belgreen were Dustin Smith (8) and Josh Devaney (5).

Belgreen will face Parrish in the finals of the Northwest Regional Tournament Friday at 6 p.m. at Wallace State Community College in Hanceville.

The winner will advance to the Final Four in Birmingham.