One of the good things about experienced, talented teams is that they know when to turn it on. Tucker is one of those teams.
The Tigers (29-2) shook off a lackluster first half and stepped on the gas defensively and offensively in a decisive third quarter to pull away from Hillgrove (23-6) and win a Class AAAAAA quarterfinal Thursday night at Tucker, 66-52. The Tigers will now face Wheeler in the semifinals, 8:15 p.m., Saturday at Georgia Tech.
Neither team was particularly hot in the first half, and Tucker helped Hillgrove by being overly aggressive and uncharacteristically undisciplined on defense. The result was a 33-31 Hawk lead at halftime.
But everything changed in the third quarter. Tucker clamped down defensively and guard Ayinde Russell warmed up offensively, scoring 12 of his game-high 29 points in the period in which Tucker outscored Hillgrove 20-7 to take a 51-40 lead going into the fourth quarter.
“We stopped gambling on defense,” Tucker head coach James Hartry said of the change his team made coming out of the locker room at half time. “We got back to our defensive plan and stayed in front of them, and made them take some tough shots.”
Harty also singled out the play of Russell, one of the team’s 10 seniors, as a key factor in the third quarter spurt.
“Russell is big time for us. He does everything,” Hartry said. “He’s our defensive guy, our offensive guy. I look for him to do big things in the rest of the playoffs.”
Russell got help from his backcourt mate and good friend Bryce Brown, also a senior, to put the game away.
Leading by just five, 43-38, with less than three minutes remaining in the period, Russell, Brown and the Tigers took full advantage of some missed opportunities by Hillgrove. First, Hawks sophomore guard Collin Sexton converted a tough runner in the lane that appeared to cut the Tucker lead to just three points. But an offensive foul was called on Sexton and the basket was waived. On Tucker’s ensuing possession, forward Courtland Rogers tipped a rebound away from a Hillgrove player to Russell, who immediately launched a three from the corner to push the Tucker lead to 46-38.
Before Hillgrove could get the ball over the midcourt line, Brown and Tiger point guard Joshua Parker, another senior, harassed the Hawks into a turnover. Brown’s layup at the other end gave Tucker a 10 point lead. After a bucket by Hillgrove’s Jourdan Julian, another rebound got away from Hillgrove and ended up in the hands of Tucker sophomore Kenton Eldridge, who knocked down another three at the buzzer to give the Tigers a 51-40 lead. Hillgrove would get no closer, as Tucker cruised to its first birth in the Final Four since finishing runner up to Miller Grove in 2009.
“We haven’t been there in so long that I can’t remember how it feels,” Hartry said of his team’s trip to the semifinals. “It’s just a blessing. To go this deep in the playoffs and to beat a good, well coached team like [Hillgrove], is just a real blessing.”
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