Golden Tigers move on
HANCEVILLE – Last year Russellville fans watched the varsity girls lose in the Northwest Regional Tournament on a last-second shot. This season, they almost saw the varsity boys suffer the same fate.
Leading 55-54 with 9.8 seconds remaining in the game, Brewer drove down the court and took a shot. Fortunately for the Golden Tigers the aim was off and Russellville survived to advance to the tournament finals.
“It looked like the shot the girls lost to last year,” said Russellville coach Michael Smith.
Russellville never led by more than 10 points, but looked to be in control for much of the game. A 6-0 run by the Patriots spanning the end of the third and start of the fourth quarters cut the Golden Tigers’ lead to four points.
Brewer continued its rally and tied the game at 52-52 on a 3-pointer by Garrett Crawford with 1:10 remaining in the game. Russellville’s Will Bostick regained the lead with a free throw, but Brewer’s Jordan Bowling hit a pair of free throws to give the Patriots their first lead of the game with 30.2 seconds to play.
Russellville inbounded the ball and killed off most of the remaining time before Matthew Duncan drove along the baseline and scored to give Russellville a one-point advantage.
“We were running high-low and (Bostick) had the option to penetrate,” Smith said. “Matthew did a good job today of putting the ball on the floor and driving to the basket.”
The Patriots struggled all game on offense dealing with Russellville’s size advantage inside. The Golden Tigers blocked eight shots during the game.
When Brewer took the final possession, Bowling had open space to take his shot, but A.J. Elliot came out to defend.
“I tried to shoot over him, and hoped it went in,” Bowling said.
The shot did not fall and Russellville walked off the court with a close victory.
The game might not have been so close in the end, but Russellville’s Travis Daniels, one of the Golden Tigers’ top scorers, got into early foul trouble, picking up three personal fouls in the first half and fouling out of the game with 3:36 remaining. Smith said having Daniels on the bench was frustrating.
“I had an automatic 10 points sitting on the bench next to me,” Smith said.
Bostick led the Golden Tigers with 17 points while Daniels added 11. Also scoring for Russellville were Darrian Graham (9), Duncan (8), Brent Calloway (6), A.J. Elliot (4).
Elliot led the Golden Tigers with nine rebounds and was tied for the lead with Calloway in blocked shots with four.
Bowling scored a game-high 21 points for Brewer.
