Tharptown, Belgreen advance
By Staff
'Dogs beat Vina 94-43; Warren scores 33
Kim West
PHIL CAMPBELL – The fourth-seeded Belgreen varsity boys exploded for a season-high 94 points as the Bulldogs beat No. 5 Vina 94-43 Tuesday to advance to the second round of the Franklin County Tournament.
Vina struggled to stop point guard Kyle Warren, who finished with 33 points on 3-of-6 3-point shooting and four steals as the Bulldogs forced 20 turnovers.
Belgreen led only 19-16 after the first quarter, despite 16 combined points from Warren and Shane Fretwell, who finished with 25 points.
Belgreen opened up an early 9-2 lead as Warren drilled two 3-pointers and Fretwell also knocked down a trey. But Vina responded with a 7-0 run that included a 3-pointer from Morgan McCarley and a short jumper by B.J. Beard to cut the lead to three at the end of the first quarter.
The Bulldogs used a 15-6 spurt to open the second quarter as Warren scored 11 points, including a driving layup that split two defenders and a trey from the left wing off an assist from Fretwell, who scored a putback at the buzzer to give Belgreen a 44-30 halftime lead.
Beard knocked down a 3-pointer to narrow Belgreen's lead to 48-33 in the third quarter, but the Bulldogs went on a 16-7 run to push their lead to 24 points before Beard hit another trey to make it 64-43 at the end of the quarter.
Belgreen put the game away in the fourth with a 30-point outburst while holding Vina to only 10 points, including seven by Brent Townsend.
Randy Barnes led Vina with 13 points, while Cass White and Townsend both finished with eight.