HIGH-SCHOOL

Warriors, Tigers fall in semis

KENNETH SCHOTT Special to The Daily Herald
Richland defenders Brennon Angus (left) and Daniel Nicholson helped create issues for Ethan Hardison (5) and the Culleoka offense during Tuesday's Region 5-A Tournament semifinal game. The host Raiders also hit 10 3-pointers en route to a 58-33 victory.

LYNNVILLE — Host Richland hit six of its nine first-quarter 3-point attempts in Tuesday’s Region 5-A Tournament semifinal clash with Culleoka, ambushing the District 10-A champions early and riding that momentum to a 58-33 victory.

The Raiders, who split with Culleoka during the regular season, led by 14 after the opening period and never led by fewer than eight the rest of the way in clinching spots in both Thursday’s championship game and Monday’s Class A state sectional round.

Richland (19-11) will face East Robertson, a 64-45 semifinal winner Tuesday over Mt. Pleasant, at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Dwight Clark Gymnasium.

Scoring 18 of 23 points from behind the arc and holding Culleoka (16-11) down at the other end allowed the Raiders to play with confidence throughout the night.

“Really, it was just a state of mind, as far as letting my kids play free,” Richland coach Jason Loveless said, as his team hit 10 treys on the night. “We knew they were going to be packed in (a zone defense), and so I wanted to free my guys’ minds up and tell them to go shoot it, as long as they can go rebound it. We made some shots and that helps.”

The Warriors were forced to shoot contested shots and struggled on the offensive boards, falling behind 23-9 after the first quarter, though they cut the deficit to 39-31 by halftime.

“You’ve got to give credit to Richland, they really showed up tonight,” said Culleoka coach Mike Lovett. “Defensively, they shut us down. (We didn’t have) a single guy in double digits, and that’s the first time that’s happened all year.”

A 19-2 fourth quarter closed out the victory for Richland and stopped a four-game win streak for the Warriors, who won the district tourney title as the No. 4 seed and advanced with a region quarterfinal win over Jo Byrns.

Trey Luna scored a game-high 19 points for the Raiders, with Daniel Nicholson adding 18 and Brennon Angus 10. Ethan Hardison scored seven points to lead Culleoka.

“We made a great run,” Lovett said. “Even though we lost … , we’re still district champs, we still made it to the region tournament for the first time in 12 years. Those are great accomplishments. We can only move forward from here.”

In the early contest, Mt. Pleasant (21-10) got out to a slow start behind a revamped starting five and never recovered.

“We had a different lineup than we’ve used all season,” first-year Tigers coach Chris Carney said, referring to Tip Marlow and Daniel James, who started with Kentra Frierson, Keshawn Hudson and Jakob Smith because of “internal things”.

Senior Kayne Forest did not dress for the contest.

“We had some jitters,” Carney said. “East Robertson’s a great team. You can’t get off to that kind of slow start, and dig yourself a hole. It’s tough to get out.”

Mt. Pleasant trailed 18-3 at one point and 20-6 by the end of the first period. Most of the team’s problems were self-inflicted. They only managed to make 2-of-10 from the field — both shots being 3-pointers — and committed five turnovers. But the Tigers missed several layups or shots near the basket. And most of the turnovers were unforced.

“In the first half, we missed 6-to-10 layups, and five free throws (3-8),” said Carney. “If we make those, the game’s tight.”

East Robertson (21-10) got a game-high 24 points from Darion Shannon, along with 15 from Taylor Groves and 13 from Daltyn Hammonds.

“They’ve got some really good players,” said Carney. “They’ve got guys who can shoot it and drive the ball, and they put some shooters around them. The floor is spaced really well. They’re a really tough team to guard. We like to play man-to-man and they were doing a good job of executing against it.”

Frierson’s 13 points led Mt. Pleasant, with Smith adding 11.

???

East Robertson boys 64, Mt. Pleasant 45

MP 6 12 12 15 — 45

ER 20 14 15 15 — 64

Mt. Pleasant (45) — Kentra Frierson 13, Jakob Smith 11, Keshawn Hudson 7, Daniel James 6, Tip Marlow 4, T. J. McGowan 2, Collyn Foshee 2

East Robertson (64) — Darion Shannon 24, Taylor Groves 15, Daltyn Hammonds 13, Nelson Brown 6, Van True 4, Alex Patterson 2

3-pointers — Mt. Pleasant 7 (Frierson 3, Smith, James 2, Marlow), East Robertson 5 (Shannon 2, Hammonds 3)

Richland boys 58, Culleoka 33

R 23 9 7 19 — 58

C 9 14 8 2 — 33

Richland (58) — Trey Luna 19, Daniel Nicholson 18, Brennon Angus 10, Steve Ballinger 5, Tyrell Randolph 3, Logan Helton 3

Culleoka (33) — Ethan Hardison 7, Preston Bagsby 6, Landon Andrews 6, Cooper Parks 4, Erik Mick 4, Tavon Bagsby 4, Chris Hutcherson 2

3-pointers — Richland 10 (Luna 3, Nicholson 3, Angus 2, Randolph, Helton), Culleoka 3 (Hardison 2, P. Bagsby)