Cubs fall at buzzer
- Updated: February 11, 2018
Etowah hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to steal area tournament title from Alexandria; Anniston crushed by Handley
By East Alabama Sports Today
ATTALLA – Alexandria has lost games at the buzzer before, but this one hurt just a little bit more.
Etowah junior Taylor Berry hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to rip the Class 5A Area 13 title from the hands of the Valley Cubs, 64-62, Saturday night.
The Cubs trailed by six with 2:20 to play, but Dalton Dodd gave them a 62-61 lead with a pair of free throws with 3.7 seconds left.
The Blue Devils (23-5) inbounded the ball under the goal. 10 raced up the floor and then found Berry on the right side. The ball went through as the buzzer sounded, touching off a wild celebration as the crowd emptied out onto the floor.
“It’s not the first time it happened to us,” Alexandria coach Jason Johnson said, “but … it does hurt our seniors. They really wanted to host a sub-region game and win the area; that was one of their goals.
“Initially it hurts, but we’re still in the playoffs. Let’s just enjoy the road trip and see what we can do.”
The Valley Cubs (18-8) now head to Talladega for their subregional game Tuesday night. They’ve never played the Tigers before.
“It’s going to be a great honor to go against (Talladega) coach (Chucky) Miller,” Johnson said. “He used to coach at Wellborn. When I was a fifth- or sixth-grader he was coaching and they had some real wars with Alexandria. It’s going to be a great honor to go against Coach Miller.”
Etowah’s Alec Timmons was named tournament MVP after scoring 17 in the title game. Berry had 13.
Dodd finished with 20 points, half coming in the game’s final minute and a half. Landan Williams had 18.
“It was heck of ball game; we played our heart out,” Johnson said. “We played as hard as we could. We did everything we could to give ourselves a chance.”
Etowah 64, Alexandria 62
Alexandria 12 17 16 17 — 62
Etowah 16 12 15 21 — 64
Handley 74, Anniston 46: The Tigers won the Class 4A Area 8 tournament title over an emotionless Anniston team. The Bulldogs now travel to Area 14 champion Madison Academy for their subregion game Tuesday.
You must be logged in to post a comment Login