VINEMONT – Drew Adams' debut as varsity basketball coach at Good Hope High School was a success Monday evening as the Raiders pulled out a 52-46 victory over Winston County in the Vinemont Tip-Off Tournament.
Many were hoping that Adams and his Raiders would get to face the host in Tuesday's championship contest. It looked like it for quite a while as Vinemont was on top of Susan Moore in the second assignment.
But Susan Moore went on a 35-18 second half scoring spree to rally by the Eagles 59-45. Susan Moore and Good Hope will tangle in the championship at about 8:15 p.m. Tuesday night.
Good Hope was not sharp in the game between the Raiders and Winston County. The Raiders trailed 13-8 after the first period and managed to hit only three field goals.
They were able to keep it close when the game reached the half, trailing 29-24.
Good Hope went to a zone defense and shut down Winston's County perimeter attack, allowing the Yellow Jackets only two baskets in the third stanza and had the game tied at 33-33 when time ran out.
What carried the Raiders in the fourth period was 10 of 12 from the foul line as Kallen Sharpton knocked down five of six at the stripe and got two big free throws each from Josh Cofer and Mason Moniz.
The Raiders went up 46-39 with less than 3:00 remaining as Winston County rallied and cut the deficit to 46-43 around the 1:00 mark.
Then Moniz drilled a three from the left baseline around the 30-second mark and the Raider lead was 49-43 with Winston County unable to come back.
The free throw shooting produced 21 points from the stripe in 27 attempts, with Matt Cofer making five of eight and Sharpton hitting eight of 10.
Sharpton paced the win for Adams' squad with 16 points, Cofer got 11, Isaac McDonald 10, Moniz nine, Josh Cofer four and Garrett Bagwell two.
Hunter Hodge flipped in 14 with his twin brother Hayden scoring 11 in a losing cause for Winston County. The Jackets also had a new leader on the sidelines in Adam Gray, who spent the past seven years coaching girls and varsity ball at Lynn High School.
Vinemont can't hold on to the lead, falls in opener:
Vinemont was off to a 9-0 advantage three minutes after tip off with Susan Moore. Then the visitors from Blount County answered with a run and allowed the Eagles two field goals for the rest of the quarter. Susan Moore was behind only 13-10 when time expired.
The Eagles managed to stay on top when the game reached intermission, leading 26-24.
Then the offense for Todd Johnson's Eagles began to misfire with Susan Moore getting hot in the second half.
The Bulldogs scored 12 field goals in the final 16:00 with the Eagles managing only six.
Susan Moore went on a 17-9 run in the third and carried a 41-35 margin into the fourth quarter.
Vinemont was down 44-35 when the Eagles got a pair of threes from Corbin Barnett and drew within 46-41.
Susan Moore then got control of the game thanks to Angel Vorte hitting three layups in the final frame, and three treys by Brock Morton ignited a 13-0 spurt and the Bulldogs were up 59-41 with a minute to play.
Barnett was the only Eagle to score in the final period, hitting for 10 points on two treys, a field goal and two free throws. He led the Eagles in the opener with 19 points.
Garrett Boland, who had nine in the first quarter, managed five for the rest of the contest and delivered 14 points.
Vorte had 11 of his team high 13 points for the Bulldogs in the second half, Dakota Thomas tallied 12, Micah Ogles scored 11 and Morton finished with nine on three big 3-point field goals in the fourth.
Winston County and Vinemont play for third place Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. with Good Hope and Susan Moore to tangle for the title in the finale around 8:15 p.m.
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