Brainerd Advances To State With 49-46 Victory

It’s been a roller-coaster season for the Brainerd basketball team, but things have been going well lately.

The Panthers beat three really good teams last week en route to a region title and that effort carried over to Monday where host Brainerd eliminated the York Institute Dragons in the Sectional round at High-Jackson Gymnasium by a 49-46 final.

Brainerd had lost in the District 6-AA finals to Tyner, but the Panthers haven’t lost since and improved to 20-10 with their fourth straight win on Monday.

The Dragons finish the year at 22-8.

“We were physically and mentally tired from some really tough games last week, but these kids have a lot of heart and that was the difference tonight,” said Brainerd coach Levar Brown afterward.

“We didn’t even know we’d be able to participate in post-season tournaments at the start of the school year, but these kids never backed down and have worked really hard to get to this point.  I really don’t think they wanted to lose their last game at home tonight.

“I thought that our defensive pressure might create a few more turnovers, but York was prepared and played a really good game.  And I’m just glad it wasn’t any closer after all of those missed free throws,” he added, knowing that his team converted just one of nine from the charity stripe in the final eight minutes.

York coach Russell Tays was proud of the effort his kids put forth, but he was quick to admit key mistakes with the game on the line proved to be their downfall.

“We gave ourselves a chance to win this game as we had some key opportunities, but you can’t make critical mistakes on the road and expect to win,” he began outside the York dressing room.

“I thought we did a good job of handling their defensive pressure as we worked on that, but we also had some key turnovers that led to some easy baskets.  I can’t say enough about our effort as it’s been outstanding all season,” he added.

Jonte Williams scored on a layup in the opening minute to give Brainerd a 2-0 lead, but the Dragons then scored six straight points and led the rest of the quarter until a 3 from the key by Xiyeer Lattimore at the buzzer gave Brainerd a 17-16 lead at the first break.

Noah Smith converted a three-point play to start the second period and the Dragons proceeded to score 10 of the first 13 points for a 26-20 lead following a layup by Smith midway through the period.

Cole Smith sank the second of two free throws with 2:51 left to put York ahead by 27-22 before Brainerd finished the half on an 8-0 run for a three-point edge (30-27) at the break.

Roger Meadows scored seven of his 12 points in the third stanza, including the final two on a layup at the end for a 40-38 York lead with eight minutes remaining.

Landrick Leffew scored on a layup at the start of the fourth to give the Dragons a 42-38 lead before the Panthers tied it with back-to-back buckets from Devon Sadler and Kevin Halfacre Jr.

LaDerron Freeman’s layup with 2:05 put Brainerd ahead by 46-44, but it was his drive down the lane with 22.3 seconds that gave his team a little breathing room at 48-44.

York scored one final bucket on a layup by Case Moody with 11.6 seconds left, but it didn’t get any closer as the Panthers were able to win and advance to Murfreesboro for the boys’ state tournament next week.

Freeman scored 15 points to lead the Brainerd attack while Halfacre and Williams both finished with 10 each.

Noah Smith had 13 points to lead the Dragons while Meadows was next with a dozen and Cole Smith with 10.

The Dragons had an unofficial 30-26 edge on the boards with Cole Smith grabbing eight, Meadows seven and Moody six.  Trey Owten and Freeman both had seven for Brainerd.

HOWARD'S HUSTLIN' TIGERS, who finished second in the region to Brainerd, also advanced to the state tournament with an impressive 64-56 win at Watertown.

YORK INSTITUTE  16  11  13  6  --  46

BRAINERD  17  13  8  11  --  49

YORK INSTITUTE (46) – Moody 2, C. Smith 10, Noah Smith 13, Meadows 12, Nicolas Smith 4, Leffew 2, Christsanson 3.

BRAINERD (49) – Hubbard, Owten, Freeman 15, Halfacre 10, Lattimore 6, Williams 10, McKibbens 4, Chancy, Ward, Evans 2, Sadler 2.

3-POINT GOALS: York Institute 3 (Cole Smith, Meadows, Christsanson); Brainerd 4 (Halfacre, Lattimore 2, McKibbens).

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)