HANCEVILLE – Friday night's game between the Oakman Wildcats and the Hanceville Bulldogs was a high-scoring affair that had to be settled in overtime, Hanceville started strong and took a 99-93 win to clinch the area title.
Early on, Oakman's Christian Hubbard was hard to slow down as he scored the Wildcats' first 10 points to help his team take a 10-4 lead. It was a game of mini-runs by each team in the opening quarter, but Brendan Flanigan made sure that the Bulldogs finished strong as he scored his first points of the game on back-to-back layups to cut the lead to 17-14 after three.
Hanceville started the second quarter strong as a 7-0 run, paced by R.J. Evans (4) and Josh Stanley on an and one, put them up front 21-17. Oakman hurt the Bulldogs on the offensive side as they nailed four threes, two by Collin Woods and one each by Hubbard and Skylar Hice, and they held a 35-30 lead at the half. Evans had nine points in the quarter to keep the Bulldogs close.
The third quarter was a back and forth scoring affair between both teams as they lit the scoreboard up for a combined 48 points. After a Stanley layup made the score 57-51, Brandon Duncan hit a layup and Hubbard had an and one to increase the lead to 62-51 after three.
After Hubbard hit a three to make the score 65-51, Hanceville made a furious rally to get back in the game, getting the Wildcats out of their rhythm offensively and cutting the lead to 73-71 after a Evans layup with 2:35 remaining in the game. After each team traded baskets on their next possessions, Evans hit a layup to make it 76-75. After a missed shot, Flanigan got fouled with 27 seconds left, and he nailed both shots from the line to give Hanceville a 77-76 lead. He hit two more from the line after another empty possession by Oakman to give them a 79-76 lead with 5.7 seconds remaining. Oakman had one final chance to send the game to overtime. Collin Woods nailed a deep three just before the buzzer to tie the game at 79.
But in overtime, Hanceville took over, embarking on a 13-2 run to start the extra period and holding off a rally by Oakman to take home the area title.
Evans had a monster game, finishing with a double-double with 32 points and 14 rebounds. He added three steals as well. Flanigan had 21 points and a pair of steals. Stanley had 14 points and a career-high 20 rebounds. Campbell finished with 14 points as well as three steals of his own. They improve to 7-10 on the season and 4-1 in the area. They will finish their area play at Vinemont next Tuesday.
"I told my guys before the final quarter, to just defend," Hanceville coach Daniel Wakefield said. "Oakman is fast and if you slip up for just a second, they can make you pay. They hit 18 threes to our one. We did not defend good at all. But in overtime, we defended a little better. Evans had a huge game. Stanley had 20 rebounds. Flanigan had a great game as usual. Fred Ellis played good in spurts. He is still young."
Even though he is happy with winning the area title, Wakefield wants his team to continue pushing hard in hopes of winning the whole area.
"I am really happy with hosting an area tournament. We now have to make something out of it."
Collin Woods ended up with 29 for the Wildcats, who see their eight-game winning streak come to an end. Hubbard finished with 27 points. Hice had nine. They fall to 8-4 on the season and 4-3 in the area. They will play in the Walker County Tournament next Tuesday.
Hanceville 49, Oakman 43 (Girls)
After jumping to an early lead, Hanceville dominated the next two quarters, but had to hold off a furious rally by Oakman to pick up a huge area win at home.
Hanceville took a 10-5 lead after one as four different Lady Bulldogs scored in the opening quarter. The offense exploded in the second quarter as they outscored the Lady Wildcats, 22-10, to take a commanding 32-15 lead at the half.
A low-scoring third quarter slowed things down, but Hanceville held onto a 39-24 lead at the end of three.
Oakman made their move in the final quarter. After Malia Howell scored five straight points to push the lead to 46-30, Chante Williams quickly took over, scoring the next nine points to cut the lead to 46-39. Cassidy Campbell hit two from the line to push the lead back to nine, but Heather Thompson hit a layup, as did Malori Crowell to cut the lead to five with 52 seconds left, but they would not get any closer as Hanceville's defense stepped up and did not allow any more Lady Wildcat points.
Campbell finished with a double-double for the Lady Bulldogs as she had 11 points and 11 rebounds. Howell finished with 10 points. Kierra Merriweather just missed out on a double-double of her own as she ended up with nine points and 11 rebounds. Desi Hackney finished with eight points and nine rebounds. They improve to 5-13 on the season and 2-4 in the area. They will finish area play at Vinemont next Tuesday.
Williams led Oakman with 21 points and Thompson had 11. They fall to 12-6 on the season and 4-2 in the area.
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