HANCEVILLE — It only took Mitch Morris a few seconds to figure out why his ninth-grade Holly Pond team came out as timid as it did during Wednesday night’s game against Fairview.

Fear.

The top-seeded Broncos looked like anything but during the first half — sputtering on offense and giving up way too many easy looks on defense.

However, a quick pep talk at halftime was all the Green and White needed.

Holly Pond woke up in the final 12 minutes, outpacing the No. 4 Aggies by 22 points and securing a 44-28 triumph to advance to the championship game of the Cullman County Basketball Tournament.

“I think they were just scared to death in the first half,” Morris said. “They were tight. I just told them to relax and play their game. You saw what happens if they do that for an extended period of time.”

Fairview seemed like the team to beat early, racing out to a 13-4 advantage midway through the second stanza. The Broncos cut their deficit to six points before halftime but still lacked the pop of a usual Holly Pond squad.

That all changed after the break, as Griffin Morris and Jake Harris spearheaded the Broncos to an 18-point quarter to flip the script and notch a 25-17 lead heading into the fourth and final frame.

“We had a rough first half, ” Harris said. “It could have been jitters, because we have never played like that as long as I can remember. After halftime, we just played how we usually play and things turned around.”

Fairview twice cut the contest to six points but simply couldn’t stop the Holly Pond O when needed, as Morris, Harris and others found themselves living inside the paint and at the free-throw line.

“It wasn’t a strategy thing at all,” Morris said. “We just needed to be aggressive and step up on defense. That was the big difference. Once we got comfortable, we had some good moments.”

Morris (13 points), Harris (12) and McKinley Garrett (10) provided the bulk of their team’s scoring, while Reid Hollis (seven) and Mason Hays (two) also had buckets.

Jacob Hill paced Fairview with nine points. Other contributors were Scoot Bennett, seven; Cameron Guthrie, five; Klay Knop, four; Grant Howard, two; and Lane Schnittker, one.

Holly Pond will take on No. 2 West Point Saturday at 1 p.m. The Broncos swept a pair of games in the regular season but Harris knows they’ll need their A-game to escape with a third for the title.

“When we play our game, there’s no team that can play with us,” he said. “We will get a W if we play like we did in the second half. But we’ve got to do it.”