Warriors defeat Lawrence County in Regional Semi-finals

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White County Warriors, the second seed out of district 7AAA, faced off against the 8AAA first seed Lawrence County Wildcats, on Feb. 28, 2023, on the campus of Tennessee Tech. 

Lawrence County brought a huge crowd of fans, students, and a pep band. The fans in purple were raucous all night, even when their team fell behind.  The school spirit of the folks that made the two-and-a-half -hour trip was impressive.  The community for Sparta showed up, but the presence of a big student section was noticeably absent. Community league tournaments and other events seemed to keep the students away, even though they were given free admission and a pep bus.  The “nonstudent” section for the Warriors would try to pick up the slack from the stands.

The Warriors came out firing on all cylinders. Thomas Paul had 5 points before you could blink your eyes.  Paul hit a deep 3-pointer, then used a good fake to leave his defender behind and score on a drive to the basket.  Tripp Pinion would then begin to take over.  He made two consecutive spinning drives to the basket. A Pinion 3-pointer was sandwiched between baskets by big man Japheth Richmond.  Thomas Brock would hit a deep 3 and Pinion would score on another drive to close out the scoring in the first quarter.  The score after one quarter of play was 21-11 in favor of the Warriors.

         The second quarter saw the Warriors keep the 11 point lead that they had built in the first.  Paul and Brock both hit early 3’s in the quarter. Christian Henderson came off the bench and was instant offense.  He hit a big 3 and scored on a nice drive. Paul ended up with 10 points in the quarter. Pinion scored on another couple drives to the basket.  The halftime score was 45-34 with the Warriors in the lead.

The Warriors kept the pedal to the metal in the third and matched every Wildcat surge with a surge of their own. Guards Pinion and Henderson did much of the scoring in the third quarter. Brock and Richmond both scored in the quarter.  The Wildcats scored on a three-fourths court shot at the buzzer and the Warrior lead was cut to 13. The score going into the fourth was 63-50.

The Warriors seemed to go into slow down mode in the fourth quarter.  It was if they were trying to hold on to the win instead of pushing the pace and continuing to score. The Wildcats got hot from the field. They fed on the energy from their amazing crowd. The Wildcats quickly erased the lead that the Warriors had worked to build through three quarters.  The Wildcats gained confidence with every made basket.  The team from Lawrenceburg took the lead for the first time, with 1:40 to go at 68-67. Pinion would get fouled on the ensuing possession and would hit one out of two free throws to tie the game at 68.  The Wildcats would score to retake the lead 70-68.  Pinion got the ball, and no one was going to stop him from getting the ball in the basket. He scored and was fouled. Pinion hit the free throw, and the Warriors would take a 1-point lead at 71-70. After missed shots on both sides of the court, the Warriors saw a last second 3 fall short for the Wildcats.  The Warriors had won and earned their way into the regional final.

Pinion led the team with 22 points on the night. Paul scored 16 points.  Henderson came off the bench for 13 big points.  Brock had 10 points.  Richmond had 8 points, and Jakeb Davis had 1 point.

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