WEST POINT, Ala. – This year’s West Point Christmas Tournament resumed at Jim Boyd Gymnasium Wednesday night and all three of our local teams dropped nailbiters. Holly Pond fell in a tight one to Decatur 59-58, Curry pulled away to hold off Cold Springs 62-52 and West Point narrowly fell to Winston County 58-57.
Cold Springs and Holly Pond will square off against each other Thursday at 3 p.m. and West Point will take on Hatton at 4:15.
Decatur 59 – Holly Pond 58 (Game One)
Baskets by Christian Couch and Kollin Brown helped give the Broncos an early, 5-4 lead but Decatur was able to pull ahead 11-7 later in the period. Blake Rickard laid one in and knocked down a three to cut into the lead, but Holly Pond trailed the Red Raiders 17-12 going into the second quarter.
A jumper by Brown and another three-pointer from Rickard tied things up at 17 but a 13-4 run by Decatur put the Broncos behind 30-21 with three minutes remaining in the first half. Baskets from Brown and Levi Farr trimmed the lead to 30-25 going into the locker room at the break.
The Red Raiders led 36-28 early in the third quarter but Rickard scored five straight for Holly Pond to make it a 36-33 game midway through the period. Brown and Carson Ryan buried back to back three-pointers to make it 43-39 in the final minute of the third and the Broncos trailed 45-39 at the start of the fourth quarter.
Brown knocked down a jumper to make it a 47-41 game early in the fourth, but Holly Pond netted six straight from the free throw line to cut the lead down to 51-47 midway through the period. Brown drained back to back threes from well beyond the arc to bring the Broncos within two with two minutes to play but Decatur jumped back in front 59-53. Rickard drilled a three-pointer to trim the lead to 59-56 and a steal by Brown led to another easy basket for Rickard to make it a 1-point game. Unfortunately, Holly Pond was unable to get more points on the board in the final 30 seconds of the game and Decatur held on to take a 59-58, nailbiter from the Broncos.
Brown led Holly Pond with 23 points in the loss. Rickard followed him with 19, Gunnar McBee posted seven and Ryan added five.
Curry 62 – Cold Springs 52 (Game Two)
Nic Fallin scored the first five points of the game for Cold Springs to give the Eagles a 5-4 lead early in the opening period. John Mark Smith buried a three and Fallin converted an and-one play at the line to keep Cold Springs ahead 11-6 midway through the first quarter and Smith’s next three-pointer stretched the lead to 14-9. Cole Bales added a basket of his own to make it 16-12 but Curry trimmed the lead to 16-15 going into the second quarter.
Smith knocked down another three to keep the Eagles on top 19-18 midway through the second, but the Yellow Jackets were able to pull ahead 26-23 later in the period. Smith and Fallin each drilled another three-pointer in the final two minutes of the half, but Cold Springs still trailed 33-28 going into the locker room at the break.
The Eagles continued to create separation in the third quarter until Fallin drained back to back threes to stop the run and cut the lead to 47-36. Smith’s next three-pointer trimmed the lead to 10 and Cold Springs went into the final frame trailing 49-39.
A Bales three made it a 51-42 game early in the fourth and baskets by Seth Ingram and Cameron Nunn cut the lead to six at one point but couldn’t get any closer than that but Curry went on to win it 62-52.
Fallin led the way for the Eagles with 20 points in the win, followed by Smith with 17 and Bales with nine.
Winston County 58 – West Point 57 (Game Four)
West Point got off to a great start to the game as Ashton Rodgers and Kanaan Sutter each drilled a trey to give them a quick 6-0 lead. Jay Lamar would hit one of his own from long-range to make it 10-0. A basket down low by J.D. Cochran made it 12-0. Winston County got on the scoreboard late in the first quarter, but Cochran added a pair of baskets down low as the Warriors took a 16-2 lead into the second period.
A pair of quick baskets by the Yellow Jackets cut it to 16-6 early in the second quarter, but baskets by Aiden Dujoud and Kolten Perry pushed the Warrior lead to 20-6. Winston County trimmed the Warrior lead to 20-10, but Perry and Rodgers each hit a basket to push their lead to 24-10 with a little over three minutes to go in the first half. After that, it was all Winston County as they closed the first half on a 9-1 run and cut the deficit to 25-19 at the half.
The Yellow Jackets continued their run into the third quarter as they scored the first 10 points to take a 29-25 lead. The Warriors quickly righted the ship as Perry hit a driving layup and Sutter knocked down a floater to tie the game up at 29. A pair of threes by Rodgers gave West Point a 35-29 lead. Later on, Perry hit a pair of shots down low, and Cochran hit one as well and the Warriors pushed their lead to 42-33 going into the final period.
Winston County continued to put the pressure on the Warriors as they went on a 7-1 run to cut it to 43-40. West Point, though, looked to finally pull away from the Yellow Jackets as baskets by Cochran and Rodgers pushed their lead to 47-40. Rodgers added a three as well to make it a 50-40 game. Lamar hit one from long-range to make it 53-43 with four minutes left to play in the game, but the Yellow Jackets just wouldn’t go away as they scored the next seven points to trim the deficit to just three at 53-50.
Perry hit a shot to make it 55-50, but a Yellow Jacket three made it a two-point game. Branden Burtis hit a reverse layup to push the Warrior lead to 57-53 with a little over a minute to go in the game. Winston County cut it to 57-56 on a free throw and a West Point turnover quickly turned into a fast-break layup for the Yellow Jackets as that gave them a 58-57 lead with 30 seconds left to go in the game. The Warriors had one last chance to win the game as they forced a Winston County turnover, but they turned it over to end the game and West Point lost a heartbreaker to the Yellow Jackets 58-57.
Rodgers led the way for West Point (6-11) with 16 points. Perry added 14 points. Cochran ended up with 10 points and Lamar finished with seven points.
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