Winning eases Wellborn’s pain

Ailing Panthers upset TCC to feel better about themselves

By Brant Locklier
For East Alabama Sports Today

Sophomore Blake Hanson dropped in a free throw with one second left Saturday to seal Wellborn’s 60-56 upset of Talladega County Central.

Coach Beau Winn’s Panthers (5-7) had lost three in a row over the holidays, had one of their leading scorers (Jordan Montgomery) in a football combine in Texas and he hurt his back Friday practicing with the team. But the performance of his team had to help take his mind off the obvious pain he was in on the bench.

“I said I was not going to get off the bench, but that only lasted about 30 seconds,” Winn said. “I gotta give credit to our kids tonight. TCC really took it to us on their court earlier in the season and we showed a lot of heart tonight.”

Before the game Winn talked of his team’s slow starts this season and how he was working with Hanson to drive to the basket more instead of settling for 3-pointers. He got his wish on this day as the Panthers came out hot.

Hanson drilled back-to-back 3s and after Corri Tignor’s three-point play the Panthers were up 9-0. Hanson hit two more baskets and the Panthers were up 17-2.

“Blake was 6-for-7 from the line in that first quarter and him and Dontavious (Miller) got them out of their zone,” Winn said. “They did a great job for us out there.”

The Fighting Tigers (10-6) would not go away though, and behind 6-foot-6 superstar Tervarus Garrett’s 11 straight points began to battle back. A seven-point run at the end of the first half cut the deficit to seven at halftime. Garrett finished with 25 points.

“We played good help defense on Garrett and I was always taught that good help defense was more important than putting the ball in the bucket,” Winn said. “But we kept him in check after that first quarter.”

Wellborn’s lead was down to 41-40 in the third quarter but buckets by Hanson and Tignor and a huge 3 from Miller opened it back to seven going into the fourth quarter

Tignor fouled out with four minutes left and TCC immediately scored eight straight points to cut it to 56-55 with 1:26 to go; the Panthers appeared to be in trouble as they were down two starters in the game.

Hanson then nailed a free throw and layup with 33 seconds left to open the lead to 59-56.

The Fighting Tigers came down with 19 seconds left and began to fire 3s in an attempt to tie the game, but the Wellborn defense fought them off and knocked the ball out of bounds with one second left. But TCC was assessed with a technical foul for calling a time out when they did not have any left.

The last of Hanson’s 27 points put it away for the Panthers. Tignor had 18 points and 10 rebounds. Miller added nine — all on timely 3s.

“Corri fouled out with four minutes to go and Blake had four and we were hanging on,” Winn said. “Corri is always good for a double-double and played his tail off.”

Wellborn 60, Talladega Co. Central 56

TCC (10-6) – Brandon Fluker 0 0-0 0, Charles Burrell 0 0-0 0, Corey White 7 3-3 14, Crystyle Stockdale 1 0-0 2, D’Andre Edison 0 0-0 0, Monterio Jones 5 1-2 11, Quincy Garrett 0 1-4 1, Tervarus Garrett 10 4-7 25. Totals 23 9-16 56.

WELLBORN (5-7) — Alquinarious Parker 1 0-0 2, Kevin Mixon 2 0-4 4, Corri Tignor 8 2-5 18, Landon Machristie 0 0-0 0, Dontavious Miller 3 0-0 9, Blake Hanson 7 10-13 27. Totals 21 12-22 60.

TCC 15 14 13 14 — 56
Wellborn 28 8 14 10 — 60