ARLEY, Ala. — Addison opened the Men’s side of the Winston County Tournament Bracket at Meek High School Thursday night with a game against the Lynn Bears. Addison had the very difficult task of trying to defeat the Lynn Bears for a third time this season. Addison crushed the Bears twice earlier this year, but anything can happen when you roll the ball onto the hardwood. The Dawgs were able to finally pull away in the second half to win 63-37 and advance to the Championship Game on Saturday.
The first period started out with the Lynn Bears laying it all out on the court as they nailed two quick three pointers, one from Sophomore Cole Kelly and the other from Sophomore Christian Densmore, to take a quick 6-2 lead. Addison was able to recover as Senior Eli “Curly” Howse led the Dawgs with 5 points while Senior Justin “Rocky” Mather dominated the glass with five rebounds. At the end of the first period the game was all knotted up at 12.
Addison started shooting the ball better and playing their trademark man to man press defense. This effected the Bears as they began to miss shots. Addison was able to use their size to out-position the Bears in the paint and effectively limited the Bears to one shot only. Addison won the frame 19-10 to take a 31 to 22 lead at the half. Addison’s Howse had seven points, while Brady “Big Pappa” Gilbreath led the Dawgs with eight, six of which came on two bombs from downtown. Lynn super Sophomore Cale Tittle tried to keep the Bears close as he had six points. Lynn Senior Jordan Harper put in four points to go along with his two rebounds.
The second half started out with neither team being able to drop a bucket into the ocean as everything that went up, came down but not in the basket. It was not a pretty period for shooting. Addison threw down a whopping nine points with Gilbreath leading the Dawgs with three points. Christian “Ice Man” Roberts had two points and three rebounds for Addison as well. Lynn scored five points to go into the fourth and final period down 40-27. Lynn was led by Harper and Senior Marcus Meeks with two points apiece.
Lynn needed a huge comeback, but it was not to be. The young men from Lynn never quit but Addison was just the better team. Addison outscored Lynn 23-10 in the final eight minutes to come away with a 63-37 victory. Howse had nine points and Freshman Jed “Wizard” Wilkins had seven. Lynn was led by Densmore’s three points.
Addison will move on to play the winner of the Winston County and Meek game Saturday at 7 p.m. for the championship of the county tournament.
Addison Head Coach Ben Mastin,
“This was a good win. Lynn plays hard but they were just outmanned tonight. I felt that we came out a little flat tonight and we didn’t start clicking till midway through the third period. I thought that our defensive intensity got much better in the second half,” Mastin said. “It is very difficult to beat anyone three times in one season, so I was proud that our guys did what we needed to do and had the mental toughness to weather the storm and come away with the victory.”
Unofficial stats:
Addison was led by Howse with a game high 21 points, two boards, four assists and three steals. Gilbreath had 13 points and six boards. Wilkins had 11 points, five boards and four assists. Bradley “Big Foot” Willette had eight points, six rebounds and two blocks. Roberts had four points, nine boards, four assists and two steals. Mather had two points and eight rebounds. Lane “Duct Tape” Tubb had one point, three rebounds and two steals. “Iso” Joe Harris had three points.
Lynn was led by Harper’s 13 points and three rebounds. Tittle had 10 points and six rebounds. Densmore had six points. Kelly had five points and six boards. Meeks had two points and four rebounds. Drake Ferris had one point and four rebounds. Addison improves to 13-10 on the season and has won five of its last six games.
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