Sunday, March 13, 2011
12:45 a.m.
By Seamus Brennan
Yourseason.com
Despite its free throw woes down the stretch, No. 7 Farragut did just enough to defeat No. 8 Young 44-42 to win the 4A York Sectional Friday night.
The Admirals (24-4) shot 2-for-8 from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter and 8-for-18 on the night.
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It wasnt easy for me on the sidelines watching those free throws, said Farragut coach William Nelson.
Alphonse Matthews went to the line with 5.5 seconds left in regulation with Farragut leading 43-42. But Matthews missed both and Young rebounded and called a timeout to draw up a play with 3.8 seconds to go.
But Luke Hagers baseball pass was intercepted and Jonathan Collins got sent to the line with 2.5 seconds left. Collins made the first then missed the second, but DJ Tolliver secured the offensive rebound and the victory.
Sectional champs, Nelson said. That has a nice ring to it. But the goal from Day 1 has been to win the state championship so we still got work to do.
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Both teams went back and forth all night with a total of 13 lead changes throughout the contest. The Dolphins biggest lead was seven points when they led 23-16 with 1:35 left in the second quarter. But Farragut trimmed its deficit to three by going on a 4-0 run to close the half.
We were able to contain their bigs tonight, Nelson said. Our smaller bigs did a good job.
Youngs big men, Tommy Hamilton and Jahlil Okafor, were held to a combined six points in the first half. But Hamilton went off in the second half, scoring nine points and helped get Young a 37-31 lead in the third quarter.
But that lead would not stick.
The Admirals went on a 7-1 run to close the third quarter with Gabe Williams scoring five points during the stretch. Williams and Collins led Farragut with 11 points each.
We got just enough guard play out of Williams and Tolliver to win, Nelson said. Theyve both been big for us all year.
The Dolphins (20-11) had its chances to steal the win, but free-throw problems of their own plagued them. Young went 2-for-6 in the fourth quarter and 7-for-17 overall.
Hamilton led Young with 12 points. Ohio State-bound Sam Thompson was held to two points.