Howard topped Tyner 64-63 in the final seconds of the consolation matchup for third place in District 6-AA on an improbable shot thrown up at the buzzer.
Although not battling for first place, Tigers’ head coach Walter McGary recognized the importance of the consolation matchup, which determined seeding for the upcoming region tournament.
“It’s a big difference between third and fourth,” he said.
Showing life early, the Tigers jumped out to a 20-14 lead in the first quarter behind the play of Brandon Walters. Getting the feed inside, the Tigers’ big-man managed five points from down low.
Down by six after the first quarter, Tyner put up 15 points in the second, including a 7-point run to take a 29-28 lead with less than two minutes to play before the half.
A Tyner foul at the buzzer, though, sent Howard’s Anthony Smith to the line for three shots. He hit all three to give Howard the momentum going into the locker room, 31-29.
Tyner outscored the Tigers again in the third quarter, 18-14, to take a two point lead into the fourth, but a foul and missed free throw would prove to be the difference in the game.
With five seconds left on the clock, Howard trailed 63-61 as Tyner sent Bowman to the line to shoot a one-and-one. After the front-end of Bowman’s shot ricocheted off the glass, Howard’s Smith pulled down the rebound and threw down-court to a double-teamed RodDarius Martin. Martin, with zero seconds displayed on the scoreboard, saw his off-balance three-pointer hit the bottom of the basket before the court was stormed by his teammates, Howard cheerleaders and fans.
After the game a relieved McGary said strategy and a little luck was what got Howard the win over Tyner.
“We have a play designed for those kinds of situations,” McGary said. “He wasn’t open, but we got it to Martin and he has some springs. He can jump, and this team really needed something good to happen to it.”
On the other bench, Tyner head coach Gerald Harris said he did not expect anything less than a tough game following the loss.
“It was a typical Tyner versus Howard ball game,” Harris said. “Martin had great presence on that last play to put it up at the last second. He made a great shot.”
Although not happy with his team’s defense on the last play of the game, Harris said he was pleased with his team’s overall performance.
“I am proud of my boys,” Harris said. “We are missing two players, including a point guard, and those two are really important, but I thought our guys came in and were able to fill those gaps. I thought Alex Watkins did a really good job of coming in and playing down low, and we asked Iman Jones to come in and play point guard. I’m not even sure if Iman came out of the entire game except for about two minutes.”
Walters led the Tigers’ scoring attack with 19 points, Smith finished second with 13 points and Rashad Brummit capped off Howard’s double digits with 10 points.
Bowman scored a team-high 17 points for Tyner, while Travis Murphy finished the game with 11 points for the Rams.
Tyner girls take third
The Tyner girls’ basketball team was able to pull off a 66-61 win over Chattanooga Central, but the Lady Rams had to first climb out of a deep hole and battle through double overtime. They eventually claimed a third-place victory in the District 6-AA tournament at Brainerd Monday night.
Tyner tied the game at 48 with three minutes to go in the game with the help of Dekeshia Parks from long range. Parks hit three 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, including the shot to knot the game up for the first time since the second quarter.
After Chattanooga Central pulled ahead by a bucket, Tyner’s Traeketta Bonds hit a jumper to send the game into overtime tied at 50.
With just four points scored by each team in the first four-minute overtime, a second overtime period saw the Lady Rams go on a 10-2 run to end the game, claiming a 66-61 come-from-behind victory over the Pounders.
After the game, Tyner head coach Terrie Parks said she was happy with her team’s ability to stay focused while down.
“Both teams were tired and both teams played hard,” Parks said. “We just pulled through in the end. At the beginning, we weren’t competing. I felt like the Central girls came out and were competitive in the first half, so I told my girls at halftime that all we had to do was compete and we would have a chance to win this game.”
Tyner’s Dasheeta Stevens finished the night with a team-high 29 points while Bonds was the only other Lady Ram to hit double digits with 14 points. Parks scored all nine of her points during the third quarter.
Central’s Sandrea Sylman led the Pounders scoring with 18 points. Britanee Foy collected 16 points and India Corely scored 11 points for the Purple Pounders.
