HANCEVILLE – After a day off because of the icy weather Friday night, the Cullman County Basketball Tournament resumed with semi-final action Saturday night.
BOYS
Cold Springs 68, Holly Pond 47
The boys' semi-final was as good as advertised when the Holly Pond Broncos took the floor against the Cold Springs Eagles. The Broncos plan was to shut down Tristian Chambers, which sort of worked, but Josh Freeman came up big and helped the Eagles to a 16-9 advantage after one.
Chambers caught fire in the second, leading Cold Springs to a 7-0 run and forcing a Holly Pond timeout. Out of the break, the Broncos dropped in a quick basket but Cold Springs quickly answer and continued to dictate the pace of the game. They were able to push the lead 19, going into the locker room up 38-19.
Holly Pond played hard in the second half but the sniper-like shooting of Cold Springs was too much to overcome as the Eagles held a double-digit lead that was never in jeopardy for the entire second half. The Cold Springs Eagles move on to the championship game Wednesday to play the winner of the Hanceville-West Point contest, by a final score of 68-47.
Hanceville 84, West Point 83
Semi-final number two pitted the West Point Warriors against the Hanceville Bulldogs. The first quarter was more of a feeling-out process for both teams, opting for a defensive game. However, it was West Point who snagged the early 9-5 advantage after the first quarter.
The Warrior offense cranked it up in the second quarter, pulling ahead of Hanceville by 16, forcing a timeout. The break in the action did the Bulldogs some good as they stormed out of timeout and promptly went on a 9-0 run to close the gap to just seven. However, a late three by Cameron Moore pushed the lead back to double digits for West Point, 31-21 heading to the locker room at the half.
It was Hanceville's turn for the offensive flurry going into the third. A 7-0 run three minutes into the third cut the West Point lead to just three and had them on their heels. The action went back and forth for the rest of the quarter but the Bulldog run was the difference as they headed to the fourth quarter down just five with a championship berth on the line.
West Point quickly pushed their lead to seven early in the fourth but Hanceville was able to withstand the onslaught and fought back, clawing their way to within two points with 47 seconds left to play, where Hanceville was forced to foul.
Brandon Farley missed the pair of free throws and that allowed Xaiver Malcom a shot to tie the game which he did with a spinning lay-up.
West Point missed the fast break bucket on the other end then immediately fouled J.K. Davis with 9.7 seconds to play. He missed the front end of the one and one giving the Warriors a shot at the win but the ball was stripped, sending the thrilling game to overtime.
Malcom drilled a three for Hanceville to start the overtime period to give the Bulldogs the advantage. Hanceville was able to extend the lead to as much as five, but West Point stayed close, hitting their open shots.
However, they were forced to put Hanceville on the charity stripe and they made the most of their opportunities. Great free throw shooting kept the match a two possession game until a pair of free throws and a turnover by the Bulldogs gave West Point the ball, down by two, with 13.5 seconds left in overtime. Tanner Rusk took the shot and missed but Seth Parker grabbed the board and put it back to force the second overtime.
The score went back and forth in overtime with three lead changes and three ties. The score was tied at the end of the second OT and the teams headed into a third.
Parker got it going for West Point in the third overtime, but Malcom hit a pair of free throws on the Hanceville end to quickly tie the game once more. Neither team could establish a lead and they headed to overtime number four.
Farley scored the first points of the fourth OT. Malcom then hit one of two free throws allowing Parker to get a put back basket to extend the West Point lead to three. Malcom cut the lead to one with a pair of free throws then, following a West Point miss, Isaac Weissend drilled a three from the top of the key to give Hanceville the two-point advantage.
West Point came right back with a three-point play by Rusk to put the Warriors up one. Hanceville then missed their opportunity and had to foul Rusk. He hit one to push the lead to two.
With two ticks left on the clock, Malcom drove but did not get an open look, so he kicked the ball out to Brendan Flanigan at the top of the key. He let the ball fly, and it found nothing but the bottom of the net, to give Hanceville the 84-83, quadruple overtime victory. They advance to the finals to play Cold Springs Wednesday night.
