H coach

Basketball teams, by nature, are bound to have bad shooting games. It’s just a part of the sport.

What no squad ever wants, however, is for one those nightmarish instances to rear its ugly head in the postseason.

Unfortunately for Hanceville, that was exactly what transpired during Thursday’s Northwest Regional Tournament semifinal versus Colbert County.

After using 12 made 3-pointers to earn a trip to Wallace State, the Bulldogs could only muster a 5-of-26 clip from long range against the Indians, resulting in a 66-51 loss and early exit for the second straight year.

“You can’t expect to shoot quite as good when you come to Wallace. It’s always been that way,” Hanceville coach Daniel Wakefield said. “Just a different environment, different background. That was a concern coming in, but I thought we would shoot a little better than this.

“They’re a big, tall, physical team, and that had a lot to do with it. It wasn’t just us missing shots.”

Added junior Brontae Harris, who scored 14 points and connected on 5 of 19 tries: “I felt good every shot I took. Just wasn’t going down. People have games like that all the time. We just couldn’t buy a shot.”

The most surprising aspect of the eventual outcome was how easily it overshadowed the Dawgs’ electric start.

Dant’e Reese and Harris were silky smooth early with seven points apiece, while Matt Burns drained a deep 3 to cap off a 19-10 first quarter. The Purple and Gold were clearly feeling it — and so was the hearty hometown crowd and students in attendance.

The good times were few and far between for Hanceville (23-8) the rest of the contest. Colbert County (21-6) opened the second stanza on a 10-0 tear, weathered nine lead changes before halftime and was downright dominant for much of the third and fourth quarters.

The Bulldogs had eight field goals in the first frame and just 10 over the course of the remaining 24 minutes.

“I consider it as the one that got away from us,” Harris said. “We came out hard, ready and motivated. I feel like we lost energy throughout the game. When we got up, we really just churned the motor down a little bit.”

Making matters worse, the Indians reigned supreme in the rebounding department. Utilizing a lineup with six kids at least 6-foot or taller, Colbert County regularly cleaned up on the boards and established its presence inside for easy shots.

In all, the Indians pulled down 47 rebounds to Hanceville’s 29.

“If you would’ve given us the stat sheet before the game started, and we would’ve seen that stat and that stat only, we would have known that we probably weren’t going to win,” Wakefield said. “We knew we were going to have to rebound the ball the entire game to have a chance to beat them.”

Malik Hamilton led Colbert County with 17 points, nine rebounds and four assists. Tyler Lott and Tobias Qualls both had nine points and were two of four Indians with six rebounds.

They’ll go for their first regional championship since 2002 on Saturday at 2 p.m. against No. 2 Madison Academy.

Chris Smith joined Harris in double figures with 10 points to go along with six rebounds. Reese roped in nine points — as did Xavier Malcom — and nine rebounds. Burns closed out his prep career with five points, and Keith Twitty and Marshall Johnson, two each.

Smith, Eric Flanigan and Marc Johnson account for the Dawgs’ other departing seniors.

Harris is by far his own biggest critic. Last year’s regional semifinal didn’t set well with the star — and unsurprisingly, neither did this one.

“I feel like I put in a lot of work this offseason, but it looks like I wasn’t working hard enough to get past the Sweet 16 and get on to what I want to accomplish as a player,” Harris said. “I feel like I need to work harder in the offseason.”

 

% Rob Ketcham can be reached at 256-734-2131, ext. 138 or at robk@cullmantimes.com.