HANCEVILLE – For a half, Locust Fork was not run off the Tom Drake Coliseum floor by the No. 2 ranked Holly Pond Broncos in the Northwest Regional 3A championship game Wednesday afternoon.
Defense, a trademark for the Broncos all season, took over after intermission. Holly Pond cut off Locust Fork's ability to score from the basket and outside and went on to roll past the Hornets 65-42 and continue their season into next week with a semi-final game at the BJCC Arena against No. 1 Midfield on Tuesday morning.
"We were anxious to begin the game," coach Mitch Morris said. "We were waiting for something big to happen. We forced shots and got frustrated. We got our composure back in the third quarter."
A big part to the Broncos getting control of the game was allowing Locust Fork just two made shots in the third, while the Holly Pond offense started to find a rhythm and delivered 21 points to their side of scoreboard.
A 33-25 lead at the half became a 54-31 margin when time ran out in the third. Holly Pond scored six times in the third, three coming from long range as Drew Jones, Matt Cahoon and Andrew Shaw landed treys.
What brought the crowd to their feet in the fourth was when Cahoon picked up a steal at midcourt and stormed down the floor, finishing with a spectacular slam- giving Holly Pond its Northwest Regional championship and a date with destiny next week in Birmingham.
The concern was with Jones, who had a dislocated toe. The injury never affected the senior, who scored 25 points and was named the regional MVP.
"Drew Jones is really smart on the court," Morris stated. "We kept asking if he was okay. We didn't sit him out a lot like we wanted to, but we kept checking on him to see if he was okay."
Jones shot 50 percent for the title game, hitting 9-of-18, and added 10 rebounds to his stat sheet.
Jake Harris came off the bench and produced nine on three treys with Cahoon scoring eight and gathering nine rebounds. Dawson Foust and Bailey Smith scored five each, McKinley Garrett and Griffin Morris had four each, Shaw scored three and Michael Lambert had two.
The Broncos were 22-of-60 from the floor, 10-of-29 in 3-point shots and 11-of-17 from the line. Holly Pond out-rebounded Locust Fork 47-32 and forced the Hornets into 24 turnovers.
Bay Etheredge got 15 for top scoring honors for the Hornets with Camron Hays adding 11. The Hornets were just 12-of-47 for 25 percent and 6-of-25 from long distance for 24 percent.
Smith was named to the all-tournament team along with Jones.
Holly Pond's winning streak is now at 16 games as they take a 32-1 record to Birmingham for a final four game at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday with Central Regional champion Midfield, the current No. 1 team in 3A basketball.
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