POYEN -- Despite a major rally in the last half of the third quarter, Mountain Pine could not hold on to its lead as Bearden took a 77-73 win in the semifinal round of the 2A-South regional tournament at Jerry and Ouida Newton Arena.
Trailing by nine with 5:22 remaining, Mountain Pine (26-4) went on an 11-2 run to knot the score at 53-53 at the 2:17 mark on a 3-pointer by Matt Snow. The Red Devils took their first lead since halfway through the second period, stretching the advantage to 60-53 with 31 seconds remaining.
The Bears (23-4) sank a bucket with 16 seconds remaining to cut the Red Devil lead to 60-56 going into the final frame.
Bearden opened the fourth quarter on a 5-2 run to pull within one, 62-61, with 5:42 remaining, but Mountain Pine responded with a six unanswered points to stretch back out to a 68-61 lead with 3:50 to go.
After taking an eight-point lead by the 3:36 mark, the Red Devils lost their footing as Bearden pulled within one at the 1:22 mark.
A bucket by Devarious Hughes with 59 seconds remaining gave the lead back to the Bears before his brother, Lavarious Hughes, had a rebound and putback on Kevin Marks' missed free throw. Fay Haywood put up a shot around the 15-second mark, but it was off target.
Devarious Hughes grabbed the rebound before he was fouled by Tyler Zander. The senior Bear made one of his two shots, setting the final spread.
"We had the game in our hands, and we gave it away," said Mountain Pine head coach LaMont Page. "It's as simple as that. We were up seven with two minutes to play, and I dont' think we scored again after that. What plagued us tonight is what plagued us all year, and that's free throw shooting and rebounds.
"We rebound down here and make two free throws, we win the game. We left about 10 free throws on the book, and if we made those, we win the game."
Mountain Pine got things going early, rolling to a 7-0 lead with 1:48 off the clock. The Bears responded with a 7-2 run to pull within 9-7 at the 4:09 mark.
The two teams continued to battle, knotting the score at 11-11 with 2:24 to go. The Red Devils pulled ahead before Bearden took its first lead of the game with 59 seconds remaining in the first period.
Bearden stretched the lead to 20-15 before Zander put up a shot for two to make it 20-17 at the end of the first period.
Mountain Pine opened the second frame on a 7-3 run, pulling to a 24-23 lead by the 6:26 mark, and the two teams traded the lead several times before Bearden increased its advantage to 36-33 with 2:13 to go.
Mountain Pine pulled within 39-36 with 24 seconds remaining, but a bucket by Tyler Berry sent the Bears to the locker room with a 41-36 buffer.
Haywood picked up a double-double with 28 points and 12 rebounds while statting a pair of steals and two assists.
"He does everything for us -- offense, defense," Page said. "He's beat up, and he just keeps going. He's like the Energizer Bunny; he just keeps on ticking. He played great tonight. He left it all out on the floor."
Zander added 15 points with eight rebounds, and Lashawn Reed added nine points with one board, one steal and one assist.
Tyler Berry earned a double-double for the Bears with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Devarious Hughes added 20 with eight rebounds, five assists and six steals, Lavarious Hughes put up 16 points with six rebounds, four assists and two steals and Kendrick Juniel had 10 with two steals and a board.
The Red Devils will face either Parkers Chapel or Harmony Grove in the third-place game today at 1:30 p.m. The Bears will face the winner of the Parkers Chapel-Harmony Grove game in the championship game tonight at 7:30 p.m.
"That's another thing that's plagued us -- turnovers," Page said. "I thought we had corrected it, but it came back to bite us again tonight. Hat's off to Bearden; they played a great game.
"I feel like we gave them a better game this year than last year. It's not over. We may see them again. I haven't marked everybody off the list. We're going to keep going until we mark everybody off the list."
Sports on 02/24/2018