Brainerd claimed the District 6-AA tournament crown Tuesday night in dramatic fashion with a 63-62 victory over East Ridge at High-Jackson Gymnasium.
For the second night in a row at Brainerd High School, a last-second buzzer-beater decided the game, this time courtesy of the host’s Demetrius Kitchens putting a layup through the iron before time expired.
East Ridge led 14-11 after one quarter, but a 12-point run by Brainerd to open up the second quarter put the Panthers ahead 25-19 at halftime. The Panthers allowed East Ridge to score only five points in the entire second period.
In the fourth quarter, the East Ridge offense exploded for 14 points in less than four minutes to cut the Panthers’ lead down to six points. Eric Taylor nailed a three-pointer at the two-minute mark to tie the game at 56.
Brainerd gained the lead back, but an Eddie Hitchcock 3-pointer with 10 seconds to go gave East Ridge a 62-61 advantage.
Brainerd head coach Robert High called a timeout immediately after the bucket, sending his team back onto the floor with one mission.
“We wanted to go inside,” High said. “I told them we didn’t need a jump shot. I wanted them to take it to the basket.”
Given the ball near the East Ridge bench, Brainerd fed the ball to a driving Kitchens who laid the shot up just two seconds before the horn sounded.
After the game, High said he could only think of one thing as he saw Kitchens driving to the rim.
“Thank God he didn’t try to slam it,” High said. “I just knew when he got up there he would try to slam it, but he said he remembered me telling him to go for the sure thing, and I am glad he decided to go for the sure thing.”
Kitchens finished the night with 16 points, eight rebounds and five assists while also being named to the all-district team. Kitchens joined both Jeulian High — who led the Panthers in scoring with 17 points — and Jabari Evans on the all-district list for Brainerd.
Green led East Ridge with 24 points and Hitchcock recorded 16 points to round out double digit scoring for the Pioneers.
Both Hitchcock and Green were named to the all-district team for East Ridge along with teammate Alfonzo Cox.
East Hamilton girls win back-to-back titles
East Hamilton won its second consecutive District 6-AA tournament championship Tuesday night with a 48-35 win over Red Bank.
A tie ball game at the half, the Lady Hurricanes jumped ahead of Red Bank 40-28 in the third quarter to give East Hamilton its largest lead of the game.
Although the scoring slowed in the fourth quarter for both teams, East Hamilton’s eight-point performance in the final period was enough to slam the door on the Lady Lions and give the Lady Hurricanes their third win of the season over Red Bank.
Red Bank managed to upset No. 2 Tyner to advance to the district finals, but head coach Derek Morris said he believed in his No. 1 Lady Hurricanes the whole night, even when the game was tight.
“At halftime we just told the team to keep playing hard,” Morris said. “We knew Red Bank was not a deep team, so we wanted to push the tempo a little bit. They are the kind of team who likes to sit on the ball and keep the score in the 20’s and 30’s.”
Morris said he felt his team’s momentum began to surge after just the first basket in the second half.
“Jessica Caudle, our point guard who is coming off a shoulder injury, came out and hit that three in the corner and that got us going,” he said. “Our excitement level jumped early because her shot hasn’t been right since getting hurt, but her shot got the team excited.”
East Hamilton will now move on to play a No. 4 seed in the region tournament, just one year after advancing to the state sectionals.
East Hamilton’s Brynn Moon, Tiffany Lewis and Jessica Caudle were named to the all-district team.
Red Bank’s Shay Cooper, LaVaughsia Pittman and Mishannon Willbanks, who led the Lady Lions with 24 points in the loss to East Hamilton, received all-district honors.
