A Tharptown player glides to the basket for a layup against the Red Bay Tigers during the county tournament. Tharptown won the tournament for the first time over the weekend.

by Bart Moss for the FCT

The eighth-ranked Tharptown Wildcats struggled to get to the finals of the Franklin County Tournament but once there they left no doubt they were going to win it for the first time in school history.

The Wildcats barely survived a grudge match with the Belgreen Bulldogs in the semi-finals, escaping with an 83-78 win.

In the finals, Tharptown was at their best.  Red Bay, depleted with injuries and sickness, was no match for a Wildcat team clicking on all cylinders.

“We play about as well as we have played in the second half of this season,” said Tharptown coach Jonathan Odom.  “Everything seemed to go right for us tonight.  We need keep up that play as head into the stretch run of the season.”

Red Bay lost starter Isaiah Jackson to a broken arm before the tournament.  Nick Thorn had been battling an illness and sixth-man Buddy Kuykendall suffered a serious knee injury in the semi-final game versus Phil Campbell.

“Tharptown is a very good basketball team,” said Red Bay coach Matt Noah.  “They would be hard to handle a full strength.  Tonight we just didn’t have an answer.”

Tharptown jumped out to an 18-2 lead in the first quarter.  By halftime the Wildcats had extended their lead to 50-10.  The run-and-gun-and-press Wildcats eased off the throttle and the pressure in the second half.  Red Bay outscored Tharptown 24-20 in the third quarter to make the score 70-34.

Tharptown had five players in double figures with Max Nolen leading the way with 16 points.  Nathan Chaney added 13 points.  Heath Hatton and Drake Lawson added 11 points each and Blake Gray score ten points.  Others scoring for the Wildcats were Allen Gaston (6), Bailey Motes (4), Brady Petree (3), Eric Odell (2), and Mikey Rosson (2).

Tate Ozbirn and Dylan Gresham had nine points each for Red Bay.  Others scoring for the Tigers were Jesus Kelley (7), Dekota Miller (4), Austin Milam (3), Nick Thorn (3), and Chandler Allen (3).

Varsity Boys Semi-Finals

Tharptown 83, Belgreen 78

The Belgreen Bulldogs have a roster full of young players.  There season has seen some ups and downs.  Thursday night in the semi-finals of the Franklin County Tournament the young Bulldogs showed glimpses of what the future may hold.

Facing the eighth-ranked Tharptown Wildcats the Bulldogs came close to pulling off the upset of the boys side of the tournament.

If you liked offense you loved the first quarter of this game.  Belgreen led Tharptown 26-24 at the end of the first quarter.  Tharptown came back to outscore Belgreen 31-19 in the second quarter to make the score 55-45 at halftime.

Both teams came back down to earth in the second half.  Belgreen cut into Tharptown’s lead in the third quarter outscoring the Wildcats 18-13 to trim Tharptown’s lead to five, 68-63, going into the fourth quarter.

Belgreen had cut Tharptown’s lead to one point with just under two and half minutes to play in the game.  Max Nolen and Bailey Motes helped the Wildcats avoid the upset.  With 2:14 to go in the game Nolen hit a layup on an assist from Bailey Motes to make the score 78-75.  Nolen then got a steal, which led to Motes going to the free throw line and extending the lead to 79-75.  Then with 1:28 remaining in the game Motes made a nice pass to Blake Gray who hit a layup to give Tharptown 81-75 lead- enough cushion to win the game.

Motes led four Tharptown players with double figures with 23 points.  Blake Gray added 18 points, Max Nolen scored 16 points, and Eric Odell had 11 points. Others scoring for Tharptown were Drake Lawson (6), Nathan Chaney (3), and Heath Hatton (2).

Belgreen’s Ben Inman led all scorers with 26 points.  Cade Parrish added 18 points.  Others scoring for the Bulldogs were Dakota Davis (9), Joseph Welch (9), Abram Thorn (6), and Shaun Jones (2).

Red Bay 64, Phil Campbell 60

In their previous two meetings rivals Red Bay and Phil Campbell played nail-bitters.  The third meeting in the semi-finals of the Franklin County Tournament was no different.

Phil Campbell had a dominating first quarter jumping out to 17-4 lead over the Red Bay Tigers.  Red Bay stopped the bleeding in the second quarter outscoring Phil Campbell 19-13 to trim the Bobcats lead to seven, 30-23, by halftime.

Red Bay opened the second half of play outscoring Phil Campbell 15-8 to tie the game 38-38 going into the fourth quarter.  Both teams lit up the scoreboard in the fourth quarter scoring twenty points each to send the game into overtime.  Red Bay outscored Phil Campbell 6-2 in overtime to claim the win and advance to the finals.

Buddy Kuykendall led Red Bay with 19 points despite going down with a serious knee injury in the third quarter.  Dylan Gresham added 14 points and Dekota Miller scored 11 points for the Tigers.  Others scoring for Red Bay were Austin Milam (7), Jesus Kelley (7), Payton Thorn (4), Chandler Allen (3), and Tate Ozbirn (2).

Skyler Tackett led Phil Campbell with 20 points.  Hayden Bell added 16 for the Bobcats and Peyton Thomas scored 11 points.  Others scoring for Phil Campbell were Noah Williams (6), Gage Roberson (3), and Jacob Anthony (2).