CULLMAN COUNTY BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT (VARSITY BOYS): West Point holds off Cold Springs late for 45-42 victory

Published 9:55 pm Tuesday, January 22, 2019

HANCEVILLE — Survive and advance is all you can hope for at the Cullman County Basketball Tournament.

West Point’s varsity boys were happy to do just that Tuesday night at Wallace State’s Tom Drake Coliseum, staving off a spirited Cold Springs comeback to sneak into the semifinals with a 45-42 win.

After watching their 14-point halftime cushion dwindle into a one-point deficit not once, but twice, in the final 75 seconds, the third-seeded Warriors (11-13) retook the lead for good with 10.9 ticks left to turn back the No. 6 Eagles (14-9).

Tyler Thompson accounted for the go-ahead points by making both free throws on a 1-and-1, and Kolton Sapp followed a pressure-forced turnover with two free throws of his own to finish off the scoring. A last-chance 3-point attempt by Cold Springs’ Landon Freeman ultimately just missed its mark, allowing West Point coach Randy Jones to finally breath a sigh of relief.

“This time of year, a win’s a win,” he said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s one point, 10 points, whatever. We definitely didn’t play our best, but you’ve got to give Cold Springs credit. They came out in the second half and took it to us. We didn’t have a punch back there, but we got lucky at the end and won the game.”

The Warriors appeared to be in control after Sapp’s buzzer-beater from deep put them up 26-12 going into halftime.

The Eagles refused to quit, however, with Freeman catching fire right out of the locker room and Mason Harris, Adam Hill, Freeman and Logan Rice combining on a 12-0 run to pull Cold Springs within two by the early stages of the fourth quarter.

The Eagles were able to take the lead twice in the last minute and 15 seconds — the first on an electric three-point play by Harris and second on Freeman’s perfect trip to the charity stripe following a steal — but West Point was able to counter in both instances. Tyler White stepped up to the challenge with an easy inside basket in the former situation, followed by Thompson’s free-throw heroics in the latter.

The Warriors had been 0 for 4 from the gimme distance in the fourth quarter before sinking their last four tries to finish 10 of 16 for the game. Cold Springs was 12 of 19.

Sapp topped West Point with 18 points, including 14 in the first half. Thompson was next in line for the winners with nine. Rylan Jones, like Sapp, sank a couple of 3-pointers.

Freeman led all scorers with 21 points. Harris and Hill added eight and seven for Cold Springs, respectively.

The Warriors move on to face either second-seeded Hanceville or No. 7 Vinemont on Friday at 7:30 p.m.

“They’re both good teams,” Jones said. “The further you get, the better you have to play to advance. We’ve got one game on the floor now. Maybe we’ll come out the next game and have a better showing.”