Albert's late three lifts Bulldogs past Bobcats

By Staff
Mike Self, FCT Sports Editor
PHIL CAMPBELL – Say this much for Lucas Albert: He has good instincts, and he's not afraid to use them.
Belgreen's senior forward nailed the go-ahead three-pointer with 20 seconds left in Thursday's Franklin County Tournament semifinal, lifting the Bulldogs to a 55-54 upset of Phil Campbell and propelling them into Saturday night's championship game.
Albert said afterward that he went with his gut on the game-winning shot.
"I thought about trying to run a little more time off the clock, but I had already passed up one shot because I just wasn't feeling it," said Albert, who made three second-half treys and finished with 15 points. "When I got the ball back, it just felt good and I decided to pull it. Thankfully, it went in."
Albert's three put Belgreen (6-13) up by one, but Phil Campbell still had plenty of time to answer. The Bobcats (10-11) came up empty on their final possession, and Brent Newell grabbed a key rebound with one second remaining to seal the win.
Senior guard Michael Wilson finished with a game-high 20 points for the Bulldogs, who were scheduled to face Red Bay in last night's finals.
"This is a big win for these boys," said first-year coach Wes Hester. "Lucas hit a big shot. We were running Bulldog, just our basic man-to-man offense, and we did a good job of taking our time and waiting for a good opportunity. When Lucas got the ball, his man was playing off of him a little. I always tell our guys to shoot it with confidence when they're open, and he stepped up and knocked it down."
Albert's clutch three negated a furious second-half comeback by the Bobcats, who wiped out an 11-point deficit with suffocating full-court pressure and timely three-point shooting of their own.
Phil Campbell took its first lead of the second half with 7:50 left in the game when Jay Steward made the second of back-to-back treys to make it 40-39.
"I kept telling our guys every time I had the chance that Phil Campbell was going to make a run," Hester said. "Their full-court press was very effective in the second half. We lost our composure a little bit, and they came back and took the lead on us.
"But our guys just kept fighting for 32 minutes. We eventually started dribbling the ball to the middle of the floor and avoiding those traps on the sidelines. That helped us handle the pressure a little better."
Phil Campbell led by three after a pair of free throws by Chase Hutcheson late in the fourth quarter, but the Bulldogs answered with some clutch foul shooting of their own. Wilson made a free throw and Kyle Warren added a pair from the line to tie the game 52-52 with 1:36 remaining.
The Bobcats regained the lead with 1:10 to go when Jonathan Dill scooped up a loose ball in the paint and tossed in a layup.
The score remained 54-52 until Albert's three from the top of the key gave Belgreen the lead for good.
"This was a great win for us," Albert said. "This is the first time any of us seniors have beaten Phil Campbell, so it's huge."
Belgreen lost all three games against Phil Campbell last season and then lost the first meeting this season. They trailed by just four at halftime of that game in November before the Bobcats pulled away in the second half.
This time, the Bulldogs put two good halves together and came up with their biggest win of the year.
"Our guys stuck to the game plan, and they're reaping the rewards of that right now," Hester said. "We knew we wouldn't be able to score 80 points against those guys. We wanted to keep the score down in the 40s or 50s if we could, and we were able to do that. We did a pretty good job blocking out, and you have to do that against Phil Campbell because they're big, physical and aggressive."
Brett Thomas had eight points for Phil Campbell in the first quarter, but Albert countered with six as the game was tied 13-13 after one.
A three by Wilson and a basket by Taylor Hester gave Belgreen a 22-18 lead at the half.
Albert hit two threes as the Bulldogs opened the second half on a 10-3 run to lead 32-21, but Phil Campbell battled back to trail by two at the end of the third quarter.
Wilson came up big in the fourth quarter with nine clutch points, including a three that tied the game 42-42 with a little more than six minutes remaining.
Warren finished with 12 points for Belgreen.
Thomas led Phil Campbell with 13 points. Steward added 12, all in the second half, and Tanner Maddox had 11.
In other action on Thursday:
B-Team Boys
Phil Campbell 71 Tharptown 50
Adam Mitchell scored 22 of his game-high 27 points in the first half as the Bobcats advanced to face Belgreen in last night's finals.
Mitchell made five three-pointers on the night, including four in the first half as Phil Campbell led by as many as 24 points.
Matt Waid added 12 points for the Bobcats, and Daniel Bryant had eight. Pablo Santiago and Corey Casas each added six.
Manny Ricardo led Tharptown with 24 points. Trevor Hallmark added 10, and Tyler Cagle had eight.