Warhawks advance in regional basketball tournament

The Daleville boys basketball team pulled away from Mobile Christian School in the fourth quarter and advanced in the Class 3A Sputh Regional after a 48-39 victory.

"It means a lot," DHS boys basketball coach Blake Garner said of the win. "It’s been a hard year. We’ve got a tough area when you have at least three teams that have 16 wins before you even get to the tournament. You’re fighting every night it seems like in your area. When you make it this far, you’re playing good teams. You’re a good team."

The Warhawks clung to a 39-36 advantage with 3:02 left before they went on a 9-0 run to seal the win.

"The end of the third quarter, we went to that little trap," Garner said. "It sped up the game, and I think that really worked in our favor tonight. That helped us."

Mobile Christian hit a 3 to end the streak, but it was too little, too late, and DHS ran out the final seconds.

Mobile Christian led 4-2 early until Kainan Pouncy hit a 3 to give the Hawks their first lead.

The Leopards scored the next four points, but Pouncy buried back-to-back 3-pointers to give Daleville an 11-8 advantage and start a 7-0 Warhawk run.

"I knew Pouncy was a guy who could really go off," Mobile Christian boys basketball coach Joe Adams said. "We wanted to try to do some things to keep him off guard. When he came out and hit those 3s early that made it difficult on us, but I thought we did a good job…of taking him away until the end when he got some things in transition. He’s a big-time player, and he really did hurt us."

Mobile Christian hit a pair of free throws before Jerry White drained a 3 to give Daleville an 18-10 lead after the first quarter.

Pouncey had 15 points in the first frame.

"We mostly did it for Coach Garner, because he hasn’t been this far (in the regional tournament) as a head coach," Pouncy said of the Hawks' play in the win. "I told the team I was going to do what I had to do. I just did what I had to do. They were posting in so I couldn’t really get my big men the ball. I just had to make them come out on me, and then that’s when we started getting inside."

Mobile Christian took Pouncy out of the DHS offense in the second quarter when Adams employed a different defensive tactic.

"We basically tried to deny him the ball, went with the diamond-and-one look," he said. "We went with that and just tried to make him earn everything he got. You’ve got to give it to (No.) 2. He just came out and made shots early."

Pouncy provided a spark for Garner's team in the first quarter, but the tide changed in the second.

"He’s a great player to have because he is so versatile," Garner said. "He can put it on the floor. We kind of got away from him in the second quarter, and that’s more on me and not him. Once they put the diamond on him and the box and one on him we kind of kept him out. I wanted to see if we could still get inside."

The Leopards started the second quarter on a 12-2 run before Austin Valdez scored to tie the game at 22-22, where the score stood at halftime.

"We didn’t play very well, and it was because of me, in the second quarter," Garner said. "That’s on Coach Garner. We played a lot against the box and one, but not the way they ran it more like a diamond. I didn’t want to force anything so we looked stagnant because of that. That’s on me."

During the break, Garner made a change to the Daleville defense to combat the Leopards' adjustments.

"We went a little more up-tempo defense," he said. "We wanted to get them shooting quicker instead of holding the ball. I think that was the difference in the game right there, us going with the trap. I think that’s what the difference was."

Mobile Christian grabbed a 27-24 lead early in the third quarter before the Warhawks went on an 8-0 run to finish the third quarter with a 32-27 advantage.

Jerry White scored to start the fourth quarter and extend the Daleville run to 10-0 before the Leopards rebounded.

"They made it tough on us offensively," Adams said. "That little run there at the end of the third quarter was big. I felt we fought right back in it."

Mobile Christian rallied to within 39-36 before Pouncy hit a shot to start Daleville's final run.

The Leopards were a worthy opponent, and the loss to the Warhawks ended a banner season for the program.

Mobile Christian went undefeated in its area for the first time since it joined the Alabama High School Athletic Association. It won its first reguar-season area title, its first area tournament championship and made its first regional tournament appearance.

"I love my team," Adams said. "I love that group of kids. It’s been a tremendous year for us (with) a lot of firsts. I couldn’t be any more proud of this group.”

Pouncy finished with 22 points to lead Daleville.

White had nine.

"His defense is what’s bigger than anything tonight," Garner said. "Jerry’s quickness, Tyler Presley’s quickness. I know it doesn’t always show up in the stat book when we don’t get steals, but they force a lot of bad passes."

Austin Valdez and Shemar Dixon scored six points apiece.

Daleville will play in the regional final Feb. 22 at 2:15 p.m. against Hillcrest-Evergreen, and Garner knows of one facet which will be key to the Hawks' success.

"It’s defense," he said. "We have the ability to score some points, but if we can keep teams uncomfortable, hurried or rebound…if we can do that, you want to give us at least a puncher’s chance. It doesn’t matter who you play as long as you can rebound, play some defense and keep it down. We’ve got offense if we’re playing well and not turning the ball over."