EVENSVILLE — Walker Valley and Rhea County showed why they tied atop the District 5-4A regular season standings Friday evening and will now square off or the tournament crown Tuesday, in Evensville.
While the Mustangs galloped into the final showdown with a 77-56 victory over McMinn County, the ninth-ranked olden Eagles made a late run to pull away from a pesky Cleveland crew by a 66-52 margin.
The Blue Raiders and Cherokees will battle in the consolation game Tuesday before Walker Valley and Rhea tangle for the title.
"That will be a tough one," assessed veteran Mustang wrangler Will Campbell. "Rhea is playing really well and with it being at their place in front of what I'm sure will be a big crowd, it will be tough.
"That's what we play for to get in those big games and give yourself a chance to with a title."
The teams split their regular season matchups, each winning on the other's home hardwood — Rhea taking the first game 59-55 at "The Stable" and WV returning the favor 62-50 in the "Eagles Nest."
All four teams advance to the Region 3-4A Tournament, which tips off Saturday with the Mustsangs (18-10) and Eagles (26-6) hosting either Ooltewah (4-19) or East Hamilton (5-22), while the Raiders (6-17) and Tribe (13-13) will have to travel to eight Bradley Central (18-8) or Howard (10-13).
The region semifinals and championship game will be played at the home of the District 6 champion, which will be decided tonight when the Bears and Hustlin' Tigers battle for the crown.
MUSTANGS 77
CHEROKEES 56
Draining a trio of treys to start the game, McMinn County led the entire opening period,,, finishing with a 15-12 edge at the horn.
Walker Valley completely turned the game on its head in the second eight-minute span, exploding on a 22-4 run to take control and never looked back.
"I thought we started a little slow there in the first quarter, but then got in our groove in the second period," commented Coach Campbell.
McMinn County, which split its regular season games with the Herd, regrouped at the intermission and won the third quarter 20-19, but Walker Valley punched its ticket to the title bout with a 24-17 final frame to win going away, netting 11 of the final 16 points.
"We did a really good job of executing what we talked about all week. We did a good job on defense," related Coach Campbell.
"It ain't easy guarding (District 5 Player of the Year Reese) Frazier (who sc ored 25 points) and (Brady) Mullins (who netted 12), but we did a good job of locking in and staying with our game plan. We were shooting really well and kept out focus."
"Ashton (Davis) had a big game for us (21 points, four rebounds, three assists, two steals) and Cash (Coates) came on strong (with 12 of his 17 points coming in the final frame)," he praised.
Joining the Walker double-digit scoreres, the Campbell brothers — Graham and Tucker — helped out with nine and eight markers. The older of the coach's sons added a trio of caroms and four assists, while his younger sibling clean the glass for eight ricochets.
While the Herd was hot from inside the arc, drilling 17-of-23 shots (74%), they only went 3-for-13 (23%) from long range.
McMinn County connected on 8-of-22 (36.4%) from two-point land, but smoked the strings on 10-of-29 (34.5%) from "downtown."
The Mustangs won the battle of the boards by a 33-23 margin, plus the turnover tally 8-10.
EAGLES 66
RAIDERS 52
Squaring off for the third time in 13 day, Rhea County had to rally in the final minute of the previous two for three-point victories, but this time led from pillar-to-post in what turned out to be another tight tangle until the final five minutes.
"Again we didn't finish. We took some bad shots there at the end," assessed Cleveland head coach Reggie Tucker. "It's been like this all year. We've been in games, but haven't been able to finish games.
"Credit to Rhea County. They slowed us down and kept us at a pace they wanted. We didn't take care of the ball. We turned it over at the wrong time.
"We just never could get over the hump and do what we wanted," he stated. "This time of year everybody knows your strength and weaknesses, but you've got to be disciplined and make better decisions. Rhea County was more disciplined and tougher than us down the stretch."
After the host jumped out to a 20-10 advantage at the first buzzer, the Raiders matched the Eagles throughout the following 19 minutes, closing the gap to just four points a half dozen times and just three points once with a 42-36 point scoring edge.
However, senior Aaron Smith's jumped from the lane with 5:06 on the clock would be the final Raider points of the evening as they missed their final eight shots, seven from "long distance," plus turned the ball over three times, allowing Rhea to net the night's 10 points.
Cleveland junior Maguire Evans led the way for the visitors, drilling a half dozen NBA-range 3-pointers on his way to 20 points, while classmate LJ Adams helped out with 11 points and seven rebounds.
Abe Reibold came off the bench to drain a trio of triples for nine points.
Rhea sharpshooter Bryce Dupree tickled the twine on four from "downtown" on his way to 22 points, while Caleb Carr helped out with 18 and Braylon Greer 11 markers.
The Eagles connected on 22-of-37 (59.5%) from close range and went 5-for-15 (33.3%) from distances, while the Raiders made just 10-of-27 (37%) beyond the arc and was 8-for-19 (42%) inside of it.
The Eagles dominated the glass for a 31-16 edge, while Cleveland turned the ball of a dozen times to just seven for the hosts.
