Belgreen dominates to win area title
By Bart Moss for the FCT
Finals- Belgreen 83, Tharptown 48
The Belgreen Bulldogs had no problem claiming the 1A, Area 13 boys championship Saturday night easily defeating the Tharptown Wildcats 83-48. Both teams will play in the subregion Tuesday night at 7PM. Belgreen will host Waterloo. Tharptown will travel to R.A. Hubbard in Courtland.
An explosive second quarter gave Belgreen all the space they would need to defeat a shorthanded Tharptown team. The Wildcats were without their leading scorer, Mikey Rosson, who had to miss for a family emergency. The Wildcats also lost their second leading scorer, Levi McCormack, in the second quarter with a knee injury.
“I was very proud of how our team played tonight,” said Belgreen coach Clint Isbell. “They were focused like a laserbeam. You could see it in their eyes before the game in the locker room. It reminded me of the finals of the Franklin County tournament. They played relentless on defense and ran the floor like we want to do on offense. They have worked hard all year and they deserve this.”
Belgreen jumped out to a 15-2 lead with 3:02 to go in the first quarter after quick back-to-back baskets by Brant Bragwell. Bragwell nailed a three pointer and they go a layup off a Tharptown turnover. The Bulldogs led the Wildcats 17-8 at the end of the first quarter.
Tharptown’s Cole Daniel hit a three pointer to start the second quarter to pull the Wildcats to within three points, 17-11. That was a close as Tharptown would get in the game. It was all Belgreen to the end. The Bulldogs outscored the Wildcats 27-9 from that point and led 44-20 at halftime. Belgreen opened the second half with a 10-1 run to make the score 54-27. By the end of the third quarter the Bulldogs led by thirty points, 64-34.
Brant Bragwell led Belgreen with 26 points. He was followed by Jacob Mayberry with 16 points and Mason Bragwell with 14 points. Adam Green and Jospeh Welch had seven points each. Payton Scott added four points, and Patrick Sykes had three points. Seth Taylor, Shane Devaney, and Ashlee Britton contributed two points each.
Cole Daniel led Tharptown with 14 points. Carson Petree added nine points, Matt Hall and Alex Argueta scored seven points each, Braden Key had six points, Misael Saldana finished with three points, and Dakota Nolen two points.
Semifinals- Tharptown 79, Hackleburg 65
The Tharptown Wildcats pulled off a minor upset Thursday night to advance to the finals of the 1A, Area 13 championship game to play county rival Belgreen. The Wildcats full court pressure defense and two key three pointers helped Tharptown defeat Hackleburg 79-65. Tharptown had lost to the Panthers twice in the regular season.
Tharptown held a slight advantage at the end of the first quarter 15-13. The Wildcats got hot in the second quarter outscoring Hackleburg 24-10, including a 15-0 run to close out the half, to take a 39-23 lead into the locker room. The Panther went on a run of their own in the third quarter outscoring Tharptown 23-16 to give Tharptown a 55-46 lead going into the final quarter of play. Hackleburg cut Tharptown’s lead to eight points, 63-55, with 5:04 to go in the the game before senior Braden Key nailed back-to-back three pointers to stop the Panthers run and give the Wildcats a 69-55 lead. The Panthers would get the Tharptowns lead back down to seven, 71-64, with 2:29 to go in the game but that was as close as they would get.
Mikey Rosson led Tharptown with 26 points. Key added 13 points. Levi McCormack and Cole Daniel had 11 points and 10 points respectively. Matt Hall added eight points, Carson Petree had five points, Misael Saldana four points, and Alex Argueta two points.
Kaleb Moore led Hackleburg with 29 points.
Semifinals- Belgreen 89, Phillips 51
The top-seed in 1A, Area 13 had no problem advancing to the finals Thursday night. The Belgreen Bulldogs easily dispatched the Phillips Bears 89-51. The Bulldogs scored twenty-plus points in each of the first three quarters and cruised to a win.
Belgreen raced out to a 28-13 first quarter lead. The Bulldogs added to their lead in the second quarter outscoring Phillips 21-12 to take a 28-25 halftime lead. Belgreen extended their lead even further in the third quarter to 77-38.
Mason Bragwell led Belgree with 25 points. Brant Bragwell and Joseph Welch added 11 points each. Jacob Mayberry and Adam Green pitched in 10 points each. Shane Devaney finished with six points. Logan Seay, Payton Scott, and Seth Taylor had four points each. Grayson Moore and Caleb Pinkard had two points each.
Brandon Green led Phillips with 19 points.
Quarterfinals- Philllips 70, Vina 64
The Phillips Bears had a steady performance, aided by a 35-point night by Brandon Green, to eliminated the Vina Red Devils from the 1A, Area 13 boys basketball tournament. Both teams hit nine three point shots in the game.
The Vina Red Devils scored 52 of the 64 points in the first and fourth quarter- 26 in each but couldn’t generate enough points in between to get the win. Vina exploded out of the gates to a 26-18 first quarter lead. Phillips shut the Red Devils down in the second quarter outscoring them 18-4 to take a 36-30 halftime lead. The Bears extended their lead to 55-38 by the end of the third quarter before Vina racked up 26 more points in the final period of play and limiting Phillips to 15 points.
Clay Allison led Vina with 31 points including 17 points in the fourth quarter. Blake Hardin added nine points, Austin Harper had eight points, Tyler Renfrow seven points, Andrew Upton six points, and James Barnes three points.
