HANCEVILLE, Ala. – Holly Pond and West Point met in Friday night’s final county tournament game with a spot in Saturday’s championship game on the line and the Warriors fended off an explosive performance from Broncos guard Kollin Brown to secure a 51-44 win and advance to the county finals.
Pressley Burtis laid one in and Kolten Perry knocked down a three to give the Warriors a 5-0 start over Holly Pond and a Jacob Harbison basket extended the lead to 7-0. Buckets from Jay Lamar and JD Cochran made it an 11-1 game midway through the first quarter and after Cade Allbright scored in the paint for the Broncos on the other end, Lamar buried a three-pointer to make it 14-3. Kollin Brown hit a pair of free throws and laid one in on back to back possessions to trim the lead to 14-7 later in the period but Lamar converted an and-one play on the other end to put West Point back up by 10. However, another Allbright basket and two more free throws from Brown brought the lead down to 17-11 at the end of the first.
Brown drained back to back three-pointers to tie the game at 17 early in the second quarter but scores by Perry put the Warriors back in front 21-17. A three by Burtis stretched the lead to 24-17 but five more points from Brown helped cut the lead to 26-22 with less than three minutes remaining in the opening half. Brown drilled his fourth three-pointer of the night to make it a 1-point game with just under a minute to play in the second, but Cade Welborn answered with a three on the other end just before the buzzer to give West Point a 29-25 lead at the halftime break.
Harbison split a pair of free throws and knocked down a jumper to keep the Warriors ahead 32-27 early in the third but Brown responded with a jumper and a pair of free throws on the other end to bring the lead down to 32-31 midway through the period. Lamar hit another three to make it a 35-31 game and after two more free throws from Brown cut the lead to two, Brier Taylor split a pair of foul shots to give West Point a 36-33 lead with less than two minutes remaining in the third quarter. The Warriors went into the final frame holding on to a 3-point lead.
A pair of baskets by Perry and another from Lamar extended West Point’s lead to 42-33 early in the fourth quarter but Brown knocked down a couple more three-pointers to trim the lead to 44-39. Brown’s heroics continued as he scored the next five points for the Broncos to make it a 46-44 game with less than two minutes on the clock. Lamar hit a pair of free throws and Burtis added another shot from the line to give the Warriors a 49-44 lead in the final minute of the fourth. Shelton split a pair of free throws with 33 seconds on the clock to make it a 50-44 game and Harbison tacked on one more foul shot in the final seconds to wrap up a 51-44 win for West Point.
Lamar led the way for West Point with 15 points in the win, followed by Perry with 11. Brown racked up a game-high 39 points for Holly Pond in the loss.
With the win, West Point secures a spot in the county finals and will take on Good Hope Saturday night at 7:30 in the varsity boys’ county championship game.
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