02-25-15
BY JACK BULLOCK
NORRIS CITY - It is part of the reason that the games are played in the state tournament.

Despite having lost three times to NCOE this season, the Hardin County Cougars entered the state tournament with a clean slate and a chance for some redemption.

Coach Rodney Lane's team made the most of their fourth shot at the Fighting Cardinals.

Getting off to a good start and gaining confidence at every turn, the Cougars plotted a course for the first real upset of the ABV area postseason with a 57-51 win in the second game on Wednesday night.

Hardin County hit the shots that they needed and made the key stops to improve to an impressive 22-6 on the season.

But more importantly they get a shot at the school's first regional title since 1986 after holding onto a lead in the fourth quarter for the victory.

They will face top-seed Crab Orchard on Friday night in the regional final.

The Trojans took care of the the other semifinal with a 63-51 win over Gallatin County.

In the only meeting between the two clubs this season, Hardin County topped the Trojans 74-70 at the Crab Orchard Thanksgiving Tournament back on November 28.

The Cougars got 14-points each from senior guard and leader BJ Austin and sophomore backcourt mate Tyler Winters.

These two led the way as Hardin County survived a Cardinals' rally and retaliated with a burst of their own to get the victory.

“Having played them three times and getting beat like we did, we had to make some adjustments,” said Coach Lane. “Defensively we were a lot better tonight then we had been against them before. We collapsed on them and kept them out of the lane. We did a good job talking and switching screens. We pretty much put them on the perimeter.”

A team that has struggled from the foul line, the Cougars were “money in the bank” on Wednesday night.

Forced to foul in the fourth quarter, NCOE paraded HC to the foul line and the third seed made them pay dearly.

The Cougars nailed 13-of-15 overall and 11-of-13 in the final frame, led by Winters who canned all six of his attempts.

Coach Lane's bunch survived some turnovers late in the game and forced the Cardinals to beat them from the outside.

Coach Bryon Graven's club didn't hit enough shots, especially when they needed them in the second half.

The Cardinals got their biggest lead of the game, after trailing for most of the first half, with a 9-0 run for a 31-25 lead.

“We took the lead back in the third quarter, and then we take three bad shots in-a-row. We let them off the hook,” said Coach Graven. “We ran 'quick-hitters' and were successful doing that and then we would come down and shoot a three. We made some bad decisions offensively tonight.”

However someone forgot to remind Hardin County that they were supposed to go away.

Having lost all three of the previous contests to NCOE, including a 58-37 spanking on December 19 on this same floor, the Cougars battled on and took back the lead at the end of the frame.

Sophomore guard Cameron Shaw hit a pair of 3-point shots on the night and Logan Conn also added six markers.

All 12 of those points turned out to be huge.

Shaw helped the Cougars rally in the third quarter while Conn served up perhaps the biggest made 3-pointer in the program's 1A history in the fourth quarter.

A 3-pointer each by Shaw and Austin and a drive to basket to close a 10-2 run, also by Austin, closed the stanza at 35-33 Hardin County.

The Fighting Cardinals were led by junior Chase Sutton, who topped all point producers with 24-points on the night.

He tried to keep his club in the contest, scoring twice in succession in the fourth quarter to produce the game's final two ties.

His two free throws evened the score at 41-all with 5:26 left.

Hardin County took back the lead, thanks to a pair of free throws by Winters and the biggest basket scored on the night by either club.

After NCOE missed a 3-point attempt, the Cougars grabbed the rebound and Austin headed up the floor.

On a drive to the basket, Austin dished the ball to Conn who was open for a 3-point attempt in the left corner.

As he launched the shot, he was fouled by NCOE's Blake Karnes.

The shot found the mark as Conn fell to the floor.

Conn completed the four-point play as Hardin County was now in command at 47-41.

Sutton wasn't quite finished, as he scored the next seven points for NCOE.

His final basket of the game cut the lead to just 50-48 with :54 remaining.

Hardin County's Austin Seavers finished with seven points on the night, but his biggest play of the game came on an inbounds play near the Cougars bench.

He took an inbounds pass from Winters and turned and found Austin wide open near the basket for a lay in to push the lead to 52-48.

Austin added a free throw and Karnes, who ended up his career at NCOE with 10-points in his final game, nailed a 3-pointer from the left wing to close the gap to just 53-51.

Another of the factors on this night for Hardin County was the play of senior guard Darrien Robinson.

The 5-foot-9 lefty was one of the Cougars that NCOE gave space to on this night.

Robinson made them pay by scoring 10-points, including a game-clinching pair of foul shots with :09.2 left.

The Cardinals last chance at getting a win turned into a finalizing turnover.

NCOE's throw the ball out of bounds on a length of the floor attempt, giving the Cougars back the ball underneath their own basket.

An easy inbounds pass to Winters resulted in a lay up and icing on the cake for the Hardin County semifinal win.

It was clear from the opening tap that this wasn't going to be a walk over by the second seeded host.

The Cougars jumped out to a 9-2 lead early and made a defensive adjustment from its previous losses to the Cardinals by not allowing Coach Graven's club the easy drives to the basket that they had lived on in the other three wins.

Winters, Conn, Austin and Shaw sounds like a law firm.

This foursome laid down the law early, letting everyone know this wasn't going to be “status quo” from the previous contests.

NCOE rallied to get back to within 11-9 at the first horn with Sutton scoring six-straight points and junior forward Jacob Delp adding a rebound basket.

The hosts got their first and only lead in the first half when Delap and Matt Long scored on back-to-back trips down the floor for a 20-19 lead.

However, as mentioned previously, NCOE laid off of Robinson and he scored eight of his points in the second quarter.

Three consecutive baskets by Robinson gave the Cougars back the lead.

He drove the lane for a lay in and a 25-22 spread at intermission.

“In the first half, they (NCOE) didn't guard Robinson at all so we stuck him down on the post. We drove to the basket and got him the ball a few times and he made the shots,” said Coach Lane. “It was nice to get them once, on their home floor.”

Hardin County also survived 17-turnovers, in a game that was full of mistakes by both teams (14-turnovers by NCOE) and also out-rebounded the hosts 20-16.

“Rodney (Coach Lane) had a good defensive plan. They kept us out of the lane and then we would take bad shots from outside when we needed to be more patient,” said Coach Graven. “We settled for outside shots instead of getting the ball inside more.”

The Cougars shot the ball well, nailing 20-of-37 from the field (54 percent) while holding NCOE to just 43.1 percent (19-of-44).

“We made some mistakes tonight but the kids had the effort tonight. And effort will make up for some mistakes and it did tonight,” added Coach Lane. “It is good to be playing well heading into a championship game. They (Crab Orchard) are a lot better now than when we beat them in November. It will be a war and both teams will come out fired up.”

Coach Jon Brown's club (27-2) scored the game's first 17-points and held off the outstanding night by the Hawks' sophomore guard Seth Ramsey.

The 5-foot-11 sophomore scored 32-points as the Coach Doug Miller's squad rallied from the dismal beginning as got as close as nine-points in the final minutes before seeing their season come to a halt.

“He (Ramsey) really created a lot of problems for us tonight and at times he scored at will,” said Coach Brown. “He was a handful for us.”

Gallatin County missed its first eight shots from the field and didn't score until the final seconds of the first quarter and trailed 17-2.

They also got pounded on the glass as the Trojans held a 40-24 rebounding edge.

Sophomore guard Caleb Vaughn paced Crab Orchard with 19-points and sophomore McKager Ferrell added 16.

Six-foot-four sophomore Amos Beasley ruled the paint, scoring 14-points and grabbing 11-rebounds while senior forward Gunnar Galloway added eight points on the night in which Crab Orchard never relinquished its advantage despite Ramsey's rampage.

The Trojans were much more efficient from field and when they missed they were corralling 15-offensive rebounds on the night.

Crab Orchard finished 25-of-53 on the night while the Hawks struggled mightily.

Coach Miller saw his club fall behind and tried to rally with the long ball.

On this night Gallatin County was just 3-of-25 from downtown and 20-of-62 overall.

But Ramsey hit 12 of the Hawks' 20 made attempts overall.

The Trojans played a near flawless first half with zero turnovers and the rebounding helped clean up any mistakes.

Vaughn delivered three of his four made 3-point shots in the first quarter as the Trojans sprinted out to a quick double-digit addy.

Beasley did his harm to the the Hawks in the second frame.

Of his eight points, four different times he was involved in second chance points, as the Trojans pounded the glass.

His running one-hander in the paint after circling the lane for a score wat the 5:48 mark pushed the lead to 23-4.

The Trojans cruised into the half up 19-points.

Ramsey scored 22 of his markers in the second half as the Hawks made things interesting before running out of steam as their season ended at 13-13.

“I thought the key was our defense early in the game. I thought we really got down and stopped their penetration. We made it difficult on them to drive to the basket early and then we got rolling offensively,” said Coach Brown. “We knew in the second half that they were going to come after us and press. We made enough plays and every time they would make a run we would be able to answer.”