Warhawks surge late for area win

The Daleville Warhawks won 52-45 Jan. 20 in Class 3A, Area 4 against Pike County after they pulled away late.

"We won the area tonight," DHS boys basketball coach Blake Garner said. "The regular-season area (title), we won tonight."

Both teams took their time to settle into their rhythms early.

"They came out in exactly what we thought they would, a 1-2-2," Garner said. "We wanted to attack and get points going to the basket. At times, we moved the ball pretty well. There were a couple of times it was stagnant some in the first half, but we moved the ball pretty well overall. We just didn’t finish."

The lead changed hands twice and the Bulldogs eventually opened up an 11-6 lead.

DHS answered with a basket from Kainan Pouncy, who was fouled and made the free throw to cut the Warhawks' deficit to 11-9 at the end of the first quarter.

Daleville started the second on a 7-0 run with baskets from Jaymiane Fils-Aime' and Jerry White to grab a 16-11 advantage.

The lead changed hands after Garner and the Warhawks shuffled their alignment.

"I let Riley (Remple) play the three and let Kainan go down to four some," he said. "Getting Kainan down low, moving Kainan to where he can get in the middle of some of their zone stuff. I wanted him touching the ball tonight, and it showed. I want him to be aggressive in big games, but I want him to be aggressive going to the basket. I don’t want him to be aggressive just forcing up 3s."

Daleville outscored the Bulldogs 6-2 the rest of the quarter to take a 22-13 halftime advantage.

Inside the locker room, the Daleville coach warned his players the Bulldogs could surge in the second half.

"The last thing we talked about before coming out at halftime, we said, ‘Look. Last year’s game over here we had a big lead,'" Garner said. "They knifed into it just like that last year. They’re going to come out and they’re going to full-court press you.’ That’s exactly what they did."

Pike County started the second half on a 9-1 run and trimmed its deficit to 23-22 before White hit a shot.

The Bulldogs scored the next four points to grab a 26-25 lead before DHS went on an 8-2 run, which included a 3 from Pouncy.

Pike County scored the final basket of the quarter, and the Hawks clung to a 33-30 edge.

Pouncy started the fourth-quarter scoring when he swiped a steal, ran the floor and hit a layup. He was also fouled on the play and made the shot from the line to give Daleville a 36-30 advantage with seven minutes to play.

After a PCHS 3, Daleville went on a 6-0 run to build its lead to 42-33 before the Bulldogs knocked down another shot from behind the arc to start a 5-0 streak.

The Warhawks then went on a 10-2 run to take a 52-41 lead.

Pike County scored the next four points, but Pouncy ended the run with the game's final free throw to seal the win.

"I think one key thing…fourth quarter wise (we shot) 10-of-15 from the free-throw line," Garner said. "They fouled a lot to get us there."

Pouncy led Daleville with 22 points, and Shemar Dixon followed with eight.

White added seven, and Riley Remple scored five.

Teco Hodge and Fils-Aime' added four apiece.

Austin Valdez finished with three.

The area win against Pike County sealed home-court advantage for the Warhawks in the area tournament, which Garner is glad to have.

"It means a great deal to play it at home," he said. "Anything can happen when you play on a neutral court that’s not yours. The thing about it is you may end up playing whoever’s home court it is there so I’d much rather play at home. You’ve got the home crowd."