Tharptown stuns Belgreen

Tharptown’s Wade Berryman drvies around Belgreen’s Chaney Simmons in the first quarter of the Wildcats’ 60-56 upset of the sixth-ranked Bulldogs. | Scot Beard/FCT

BELGREEN — Tharptown varsity boys basketball coach Jonathan Odom will tell people games pitting his Wildcats against Belgreen are fun to watch, but they are not fun to coach.

That was clearly on display Friday night as Tharptown took a big lead, fell behind, retook the lead and then needed overtime to knock of the Bulldogs 60-56. Belgreen is ranked No. 6 in the latest Class 1A poll.

“It’s the first time to my knowledge that we’ve beaten a ranked team,” Odom said. “We wanted to do that the last time we played.”

With the win the Wildcats stay in the race for the Class 1A, Area 13 regular season title and the right to host the area tournament. If Tharptown and Belgreen win their remaining area games the title will be decided by a coin toss.

There was little doubt early the Wildcats were eager to avenge the 43-40 loss to the Bulldogs back in December.

Both teams struggled to find their rhythm in the first quarter and Tharptown emerged with a narrow 10-7 lead.

Kelby Hallmark set the tone early in the second as he hit three 3-pointers to help the Wildcats build a 19-11 lead. Tharptown led by as many as 12 points in the second quarter, but Belgreen shaved the deficit to 30-19 by halftime.

The third quarter belonged to the Bulldogs, which opened the quarter with a 7-0 run. Tyler Medina hit a 3-pointer with a couple of minutes left in the third to give the Bulldogs their first lead since early in the first quarter and propel Belgreen to a 40-38 lead heading into the fourth.

“In the first half we were switching defenses,” Odom said. “In the second half we swapped sides on the court and couldn’t communicate as well.”

Belgreen continued to roll early in the fourth and led by as many as five points, but Tharptown rallied and took a 55-52 lead when Hallmark hit a pair of free throws with 15.4 seconds remaining.

With the game on the line the Bulldogs put the ball in the hands of Brian Vance, who delivered a game-tying 3-pointer that bounced on the rim several times before falling through the basket with 5.1 seconds to play.

Tharptown was already in the bonus at the end of regulation, so every foul Belgreen committed in overtime sent a Wildcat player to the free throw line.

Jacob Parker hit his first two free throws to give Tharptown a 57-55 lead.

Belgreen’s Will Hester had an opportunity to tie the game with a pair of free throws, but only hit one of his shots.

Parker added two more free throws and Nick Long put the game away for Tharptown with a free throw with 27.3 seconds to play in overtime.

“It looked to my like the first half we came out and played not to lose instead of to win,” said Belgreen coach Greg Watson. “We were worried too much about beating Tharptown instead of winning.”

Parker scored a game-high 22 points for Tharptown while Hallmark scored 21. Also scoring for the Wildcats were Wesley Borden (8), Long (3), Nathan Gray (2) and Cody Cagle (2).

Vance and Medina led Belgreen with 12 points each while Josh DeVaney added nine points. Also scoring for the Bulldogs were Chaney Simmons (7), Jake Tittle (6), Cody Glasgow (5), Hester (4) and Samuel Melecio (1).

Belgreen 76,Tharptown 41

Belgreen’s Erica Smith and Katelin Barber combined to score 54 points as the Lady Bulldogs beat Tharptown to claim the Class 1A, Area 13 regular season title.

Erica Smith scored a game-high 29 points — 11 of which came in the third quarter — while Barber scored 25 points.

“They were hitting shots well and hustling,” said Belgreen coach Shauna Humphries. “We’ve had nights where one is on or the other is on, but this is the first game where they both have been on.”

Kristi O’Dell also reached double-digit scoring for the Lady Bulldogs, contributing 10 points. Also scoring for Belgreen were Bridget Thompson (6), Alivia Holcomb (4) and Sara McMahan (2).

Kamri Sears led the Lady Wildcats with eight points while Kendra Baker and Braeden Sellers scored seven points each. Also scoring for Tharptown were Chloe Lane (6), Kirsten Nolen (5), Kassy Baker (3), Erika Sparks (3) and Erica Valdez (3).