EVENSVILLE — Holding off state-ranked Rhea County in it's "Eagles Nest" for the second time in 18 days, Walker Valley galloped to their second District 5-4A Championship in three seasons Tuesday evening, in Evensville.
"I knew it would be tough to beat them, especially over here," proclaimed Mustang wrangler Will Campbell after his Herd held on for a 70-67 victory.
"It was a roller-coaster game. Rhea is a very good team, but our guys responded well when they came back on us and made plays when we needed to. We took care of the ball there at the end and made free throws when we needed to.
"They (Rhea) had a good look (at a potential game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer) but it didn't go in," he remarked.
"Super proud of these guys. They're a good group and a couple of them that made All-Tournament are just sophomores," Coach Campbell said of tournament MVP Ashton Davis, who poured in a career-high 31 points and Turner Clayton, who hit a trio of treys, including a pair in the final frame, for nine points.
The victory means Walker Valley (19-10) will host Ooltewah (4-20) Saturday evening in the opening round of the Region 3-4A Tournament.
Rhea County (26-7) will entertain East Hamilton (6-22) as well, while third-place winner McMinn County (14-13) will travel to District 6 runner-up Howard (10-14) Saturday.
The Cherokees held off Cleveland in Tuesday's consolation game by a narrow 61-58 margin, which means the Blue Raiders (6-18) will travel across town to archrival Bradley Central (20-8), the District 6 champions for Saturday's 7 p.m. opener.
The region event will continue with the boys semifinals on Tuesday, plus the championship game Thursday.
Championship
MUSTANGS 70
EAGLES 67
After the teams split the regular season matchups, tying them for the top seed in the tournament the Rhea won by virtue of a coin toss, the third matchup lived up to the hype.
Evenly dividing the game's opening 10 points, Walker Valley edged ahead 11-9 before the hosts went on a short 5-0 spurt to regain the lead.
Netting the Herd's final 10 points of the first frame, Davis capped a 7-0 streak with a driving basket then stole the inbounds pass and got a hoop-and-some -harm for a three-point play with 9.4 on the clock, giving the visitors an 18-14 edge.
After the short break, Rhea County opened the second period with eight straight points and maintained their edge until senior All-Tournament performer Cash Coates got hot with a tripe, an offensive rebound putback and a basket in the paint, sandwiched around a Clayton 3-ball for a 35-28 advantage.
The Eagles were able to get a final driving basket just before the halftime buzzer to cut the difference to just five points.
Coming out of the locker room at a full gallop, the Mustangs pushed their lead to double digits, going up 51-36 in the first five minutes of the third frame.
Not willing to roll over, Rhea came soaring back with a 16-0 run six-minute run that tied the game at 51-all at the third horn and put them up by four points 2 1/2 minutes into the final period.
The Valley boys weren't ready to surrender either, instead retaking the lead with an 11-2 run that included a pair of Clayton long-range bombs, an old fashioned three-point play by Davis, plus he dished and assist to fellow All-Tournament performer Graham Campbell for an easy bucket.
Still trailing with 98 seconds remaining, Rhea was forced to foul to try to get back in the contest, but Davis answered by hitting 8-of-9 free throws and Campbell add another to seal the victory.
Davis, who had 21 points in the semifinal victory over McMinn County last Friday, hit 9-of-12 shots from the field, including a trio of triples, plus went 10-for-12 at the stripe of his game-high 31 points. He also copped five steals and dished out a trio of assists.
Coates helped out with 14 markers with a couple from "downtown," and cleared a half dozen rebounds.
Campbell also drilled a pair from distance on his way to 11 points, while younger brother Tucker pulled down four caroms, blocked a trio of shots and handed out two "dimes."
"I'm happy for our seniors to be able to win another district title and be able to come back and see that up on that banner in our gym," commented Coach Campbell.
Consolation
CHEROKEES 61
RAIDERS 58
The last time these teams met, Cleveland got an offensive rebound putback with a banked in 3-pointer to pull out a 66-65 victory, but this time around it was McMinn that turned a two-point deficit into a three-point win in the final 52 seconds.
After a very slow start that saw the teams miss the first dozen shots from the field the boys from Athens edge ahead 9-8 at the first horn.
After Cleveland went back ahead 12-11 early in the second frame, the Tribe went on a 15-0, four-minutes hot streak to go up by 14 for the game's largest advantage.
The Raiders were able to net the final two buckets of the opening half on a driving basket by senior Mycah Jordan and a 3-ball from the top of the key by All-Tournament performer Maguire Evans.
After leading 26-17 at the intermission, the Cherokees quickly drilled the first two buckets of the second half to push back out by 14.
At that point Cleveland began to peck away at the deficit, eventually trimming it to 41-35 at the third buzzer.
The Raiders continued their rally in the final eight-minute frame, opening with a 12-3 hot streak to take the lead (45-44) on long-range bomb by senior Cutter Womack, who netted 10 of his 14 points in the quarter.
After the team traded the next eight baskets, and four free throws, the score stood tied (56-all) with 1:42 on the clock.
Junior Andrew Miolen, who netted seven of his nine points in the second half, put Cleveland up with an offensive rebound putback with 83 ticks left, but that turned out to be the final points for the "Blue Crew."
McMinn picked up a trio of free throws and a driving basket to pull out the victory after a final Raider attempt to tie the game at the buzzer failed.
Senior All-Tournament performer Aaron Smith led the Raiders with 20 points and a trio of assists.
Senior LJ Adams cleaned the glass for 14 first-half rebounds and blocked a shot.
McMinn had four double-digit scorers including brothers Brady and Bryce Mullins, who combined for 10 3-pointers on their way to 19 and 18 points, respectively. Brady also snatched a dozen rebounds for a double-double.
District 5 Player of the Year Reese Frazier was held to just a 12 points, nine of which came in the second half, which is well below his average.
