Tellico Plains staved off a Sweetwater comeback Feb. 20, winning its third game of the season over the Wildcats, 72-62, in the District 3-2A consolation game at McMinn Central.
Two seniors led the scoring charge — Sweetwater’s Chris Alford and Tellico’s Burgess Tate — both eclipsing 20 points-plus.
“I think (Tate’s) senior leadership, composure and how he handled himself (helped a lot). He uplifted other kids and talked to them like a leader. He did the right things,” Tellico Plains coach Don Swanson said.
Tate finished the game with 24 points, powered by five 3-pointers. He knocked down a triple early on as Tellico established itself in the first frame.
The Bears (20-8) led by 15 points at the break before Tate buried three triples in the third quarter.
“We have four or five kids that are mature for their age. They are young men and when it comes to that they are really mature,” Swanson said.
Alford’s 30 points was a game-high and matched his average scoring per game through the three-game District 3-2A tournament.
Alford sparked in the second quarter with 10 points off five field goals. He added 11 points in the final period.
“For a young team that has had adversity come their way, it says a lot about them personally. They have not given up and they continue to fight,” Sweetwater coach Joe Allen said “They continue to be coachable and I hope it pays off for us Saturday and we can go another round or two.”
Sweetwater (10-16) was within 10 points of increasing its season win total by 10. The Wildcats lost five games by two possessions or less.
For a team that is reliant on first year varsity players in addition to its experienced options, the team has been battle-tested ahead of the Region 2-2A tournament.
“We just came out too flat. We got down too far and lost by 10. When you give up that many points at the beginning it is hard to explain,” Allen said.
The Bears continued to find scoring from multiple players. Rylan Woods finished with 20 points, including 11 in the second period. Chadwick Davis knocked down 17 points, including shooting 75% at the line in the fourth period.
“(We did not get established) as early as I wanted to, but a lot better than against Central in the semifinal,” Swanson said.
Woods averaged 25.3 points per game throughout the tournament.
“Down the stretch, Tellico made shots. We got back in it and cut it to four or five a couple times. They just made plays,” Allen added.
Hunter Daffron finished with 10 points for the Wildcats followed by six each from Cade Houser and Demarth Upton off the bench. Nolan Dacus supplied five points with three from Bryson Burgess and two from Campbell Hicks.
“We maybe helped a little more on Alford, but we knew he was going to get his points. We really concentrated on shutting the other kids down,” Swanson said.
Alford would come up the court against Davis or Kinley Atkins.
“It was just enough to make him pick his dribble up. It worked,” Swanson added.
KT Hamilton added seven points for the Bears, followed by four from Atkins.
Alford, Tate and Woods were all named to the District 3-2A All-Tournament team.
Both teams go onto opposite sides of the Region 2-2A tournament and are on the road in the must-win quarterfinals.
Sweetwater travels to District 4-2A champion Tyner Academy (22-4), where former coach Jeremy Henderson is an assistant coach, on Feb. 24.
“We are trying to focus on playing the best defense and executing our offense. They played Ooltewah and we played Ooltewah and the score is about the same. They played East Ridge and we played East Ridge. They beat East Ridge by about eight points and we played one of best games against East Ridge and beat them at home,” Allen said. “It just comes down to making shots. We have gone through it all year long. Hopefully, Saturday will be our night and we can make our shots.”
Tellico travels to Brainerd (10-13).
“We are where we want to be and we made it to the region. Our next goal is substate. Now we have to win and survive,” Swanson said. “I feel good about Saturday night. I watched them quite a bit on film and I feel like if we play our best we will come out on top.”
McMinn Central hosts CSAS while Kingston hosts Bledsoe County.
The must-win semifinals and championship game will be played at CSAS on Feb. 27 and 29.
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