Warhawk basketball season ends in regional final

Hillcrest-Evergreen took advantage of Daleville foul trouble, rallied to take the lead in the second half and weathered a late Warhawk rally for a 57-51 victory to end Daleville's basketball season at the Class 3A South Regional final.

"I think the early fouls took us out of stuff we could do defensively," DHS boys basketball coach Blake Garner said. "We didn’t do a good job of getting the ball to Kainan (Pouncy) and screening for him. We had a plan coming in if they were going to box and one us, we’d ran a lot of box-and-one stuff for Kainan to get rebounds or be on the weak side where he could get it. The fouls are what took us out of it."

The Warhawks led by one at the break, but HHS started the second half with a bucket to take its first lead of the game.

"I told them, ‘You can’t score a 10-point basket,'" Hillcrest boys basketball coach Chenson Griffin said. "'You’ve just got to keep chipping away.’ They did."

Daleville went on a 4-0 run to grab a 32-31 advantage before the Jaguars rattled off 10 consecutive points to build a 41-32 lead and force a DHS timeout.

"You can score and be able to set your defense," Garner said. "I think Hillcrest was a little bit tired, too. We’ve got to hope they miss free throws. If they don’t miss free throws, it’s just going to keep getting wider and wider."

Daleville scored the next four points before Hillcrest ended the third quarter with a bucket and a 43-36 advantage.

"We kind of like to run up and down, but when you get into this part of the season most teams play pretty good defense and kind of take that away from us," Griffin said. "If we’re open, we’re going to shoot it. That’s the way we play."

The Jaguars were physical on the glass later in the game and Griffin said they earned some opportunities for second shots thanks to a change in the lineup.

"Early on, it seems like we didn’t get a lot of second shots on them," he said. "We got a freshman in the game, Adarius Oliver, No. 32. He gave us a bigger presence on the inside, and we got some second shots on them. We got some second shots off of the free-throw line, boxing out. That helped us out a lot."

Both teams traded baskets before Pouncy fouled out with 3:33 left in the game.

"You don’t ever want to see your best player foul out, especially your best scorer, but we were in desperation mode at that time anyway," Garner said. "When your best players are sitting with three and four fouls, you’re going to have to go deep in your bench. We’re probably better when we scramble."

The Warhawks were in foul trouble from the second quarter on, and Garner said it altered their plan.

"We would have been able to mix up defenses more if we weren’t in foul trouble," he said. "That was the whole plan, to mix them up against their sophomores, but it just really didn’t materialize that way once we got in foul trouble."

The Jaguars hit a 3 to open up a 48-38 lead, and added a free throw before Daleville began its late run.

An Austin Valdez basket was followed by a 3-pointer from Tyler Presley and a bucket by Acazio Coleman to cut Hillcrest's lead to a 49-45 margin.

Daleville got as close as 52-48, but was forced to foul late.

The Jaguars knocked down five of six free throws down the stretch to seal the game.

Free throws played a big role in the outcome.

Hillcrest made 18 of its 30 attempts from the line. Daleville made just two of nine free-throw attempts.

Jerry White hit a late 3 before Hillcrest added a free throw for its final point.

The game started well for DHS, however.

The Warhawks took an early lead after they scored the first four points of the game.

Hillcrest hit a 3 to get on the board before Daleville responded with an 8-2 run, which included a dunk from Shemar Dixon, to take a 12-5 lead.

After a Jaguar basket, Pouncy buried a long 3-pointer to give the Hawks a 15-7 advantage at the end of the first quarter.

The Warhawks started the second quarter on a 4-0 run, and had a 19-9 lead after Hillcrest scored.

"The key to the good start was the defense," Garner said. "Getting out and getting on the players we wanted to, and doing what we’ve done the last three or four games. It can give you problems."

The DHS defense contributed to its offense, which caused Griffin and Hillcrest some problems.

"They ran some great man-to-man sets coming off of down screens, ball screens," he said. "They looked for the next pass. They made the extra pass. They just ran some good stuff against the man. We tried to take (Pouncy) out of the game in our man and still play man, but it didn’t work out too (well) so we had to make some adjustments.”

Daleville led 26-17 later in the quarter after Riley Remple hit a shot, drew a foul and sank the free throw.

The Jaguars then went on a 7-2 run to cut Daleville's lead to a 28-24 margin.

"What hurts is when they dribble penetrate and we don’t move our feet," Garner said. "That’s what killed us all game long, when they spread us out. That’s why you saw me having to go to complete zones, because we were in foul trouble and they were spreading us out, just getting points off of the dribble."

Foul trouble plagued the Hawks in the second quarter.

Hillcrest made nine of 16 free throws in the frame, including three of their last four, and trimmed the DHS lead to 28-27 at the break.

"We had two foul shots," Garner said. "They had 16. We hit one of two. They hit nine of 16. That’s an eight-point difference right there. That took the margin away right there. I think it might have been a little bit easier if we were up eight, nine or 10 points at halftime."

Dixon led the Hawks with 15 points.

"I think he stepped up in the second half," Garner said. "He’s coming along. He shows you glimpses. He’s just a sophomore."

Pouncy followed with 13. Presley had nine, and Valdez finished with four. White and Remple had three apiece. Coleman and Makelle Blair each had two.

Dixon, Pouncy, Presley and Valdez represented the Warhawks on the all-tournament team.

"It’s been 20 years since we’ve been to the Final Four so any time you get a chance to do that, (it’s good)," Garner said. "This is the third time we’ve played in an Elite 8 game in six seasons. We just need to get over that hump. I thought today was the perfect opportunity to. You don’t get to have them over again. I don’t think I could have changed anything coming out defensively. The first half, you’re leading. The difference is eight more made free-throw attempts."