HANCEVILLE, Ala. – (4) Holly Pond clashed with the top-seeded West Point Warriors in Friday night’s first varsity matchup at the county tournament and the underdog Broncos came out swinging. Holly Pond went into the locker room with a 24-19 lead at the break and fended off a late push from the Warriors to earn a big, 53-50 win and advance to Saturday’s county championship game.
Maddox Chapman laid one in to give West Point an early, 3-2 lead but Carson Ryan buried a three on the other end to put the Broncos on top 5-3. Asher Thrift knocked down another three to stretch the lead to 8-3 with just over three minutes remaining in the first quarter but the Warriors were able to score five unanswered points to tie the game at 8. Chapman and Cade Allbright exchanged baskets in the final minute of the first quarter to keep the score knotted at 10 going into the second.
Sawyer Olinger drilled a three and Allbright laid another in to put Holly Pond in front 15-10 early in the second quarter. Two more Allbright baskets made it a 21-12 game and Ryan’s second three-pointer of the first half gave the Broncos a 24-12 lead. However, West Point was able to chip away at the lead in the final two minutes of the second. Free throws from Jay Lamar and Chapman made it a 24-15 game and Chapman scored inside on the next Warriors possession to bring the lead down to seven. Lamar took a steal the other way for an easy basket with six seconds on the clock to trim Holly Pond’s lead to 24-19 at the half.
A basket from Jaxon Shelton and a free throw from Chapman cut the lead to 24-22 early in the third and Cade Welborn knocked down a three to make it 26-25 later in the period but it didn’t take long for the Broncos to respond. Thrift drilled a three to give Holly Pond a 29-25 lead and back to back treys from Olinger extended the lead to 35-25. Baskets by Thrift and Olinger kept the Broncos in front 39-27 but West Point was able to bring the lead down to 39-30 by the start of the fourth quarter.
Fox Westall buried a three to put Holly Pond in front 42-30 at the start of the fourth but after Chapman hit a pair of free throws, Lamar knocked down a three from the right wing to make it a 42-35 game. Ryan and Nolan Franklin exchanged baskets to make it 44-37 with just over five minutes to play but another basket by Allbright gave the Broncos a 46-37 lead. Lamar converted an and-one play at the free throw line to cut the lead to 6 midway through the period and after another bucket by Olinger, Chapman sank a free throw and Welborn drained another three to make it a 48-44 game with just over two minutes remaining. Franklin scored inside to trim the lead to 2 but baskets by Allbright and Thrift kept Holly Pond in front 52-48 with just 30 seconds on the clock. Chapman drove to the rim and scored to make it a 52-50 game with 17 seconds remaining and Ryan split a pair of free throws on the other end give the Broncos a 3-point lead with 15 seconds to play. Lamar got one more look at a deep three just before time expired, but it glanced off the front of the rim and Holly Pond held on to win it 53-50.
Allbright led the Broncos with 16 points in the win, followed by Olinger with 15 and Ryan with 11. Chapman led the way for West Point with 19 points in the loss and Lamar finished with 12.
Holly Pond will be back on the court Saturday at 7 p.m. to take on the winner of (2) Good Hope and (3) Fairview in the varsity boys’ championship game.
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