CULLMAN COUNTY BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT (VARSITY BOYS): Hanceville holds on in OT to top Warriors, advance to title tilt
Published 11:12 pm Friday, January 25, 2019
- West Point’s Rylan Jones scores during the first half as Hanceville’s Damion Johnson plays defense.
HANCEVILLE — Romain Pochon isn’t going to want to leave America any time soon if the basketball is as exciting as in Friday’s varsity boys semifinal at the Cullman County Tournament.
If the Swiss exchange student keeps coming up clutch like he did in overtime against West Point, Hanceville isn’t going to want him to leave, either.
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Pochon set the tone in OT with back-to-back 3-pointers right out of the gate, giving the second-seeded Bulldogs just enough of a cushion to hold off the No. 3 Warriors 70-67 and advance to Saturday’s title tilt against Good Hope. The championship is set for 7 p.m. at Wallace State’s Tom Drake Coliseum.
“Whoa,” said Pochon, who torched the nets for 20 points. “That’s one of the craziest games I’ve ever played. In Switzerland, you don’t have that type of show. Everybody [here] is screaming when you hit some shots.”
No shots were bigger than his pair of swished 3-pointers in the extra period.
“I was feeling it, and my teammates were feeding me,” he said.
West Point (11-14) didn’t go down without a fight following Pochon’s clinic beyond the arc, pulling within one on a three-point play by Kobe Bowers and steal and layup by Kolton Sapp.
Tyson Bellmon, who showed out from deep himself right before halftime, extended Hanceville’s lead back to three, though, following a big offensive board by RJ Evans with a perfect trip to the free throw line with 6.3 seconds left.
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West Point was able to get a 3 off before the buzzer, but it bounced off the front of the rim, sending the Class 3A No. 5 Dawgs (20-4) into full-on celebration mode.
“I’m just happy,” Pochon sandwiched between an extended exhale and a laugh. “I just want to win the championship. That’s what we’re focused on.”
Bellmon went bonkers from beyond the arc late in the first half, helping Hanceville dig out of a 20-9 deficit after one period with four 3-pointers — the last from the left corner as time expired — in the final four minutes leading up to intermission. He had 14 points in the second quarter alone and tacked on the two ever-important free throws at the end of overtime to finish with 16 on the night.
The reserve guard was happy, but not 100 percent satisfied, to see the Bulldogs come out on top after trading the lead seven times between the second half and OT.
“It was tougher than it needed to be,” Bellmon said. “It shouldn’t have been that close, honestly. But we still fought and played good and came out with the win. That’s what we wanted.”
Fred Ellis aided the winning effort with 12 points. Zeke McDonald dished out eight, and Raiden Morgan added seven.
Sapp was West Point’s top scorer with 20 points. Bowers was next in line with 16, followed by Will Cochran with 12 and Rylan Jones with nine.
Hanceville will have little turnaround time to prepare for top-seeded Good Hope, which won 60-55 when the rivals met earlier this month.
“We’ve got to be ready,” Bellmon said. “Get some rest tonight.”