Trailing 39-20 after a dismal performance in the first half, the Russellville Panthers scored 29 points in the third quarter to tie the game, took the lead on the opening possession of the fourth quarter, came back from five deficits in the fourth quarter, survived what could have been a disastrous turn of events at the end of regulation, and then played well in spite of foul trouble to edge host Todd Central 80-78 in the semifinals of the All A Regional Tournament Thursday.
As a result, Coach Phil Todd’s team will play for the championship Friday night at Glasgow against the Scotties, who recorded a surprisingly easy win over Monroe County in the first game of the night at Elkton. Monroe County went into the game with the best record in the region and had beaten Coach John Tinsley’s Scotties earlier in the season.
Todd Central is left in the wake of two disappointing evenings in a row. On Wednesday, Coach Steve Phillips’ Lady Rebels lost 38-37 to a Cumberland County team which had eliminated Russellville earlier in the week. Then came the Rebels’ total domination of the first half against RHS, only to lose by two in overtime.
The Rebels led 21-13 after a quarter and advanced that lead to 27-13. When reserve guard Coco Darden burst through the Todd defense for a goal and freshman center Pedro Rivera put together a 3-point play, the Panthers had pulled to within 29-20. Coach Calvin Head called a timeout, and his Rebels responded by scoring the final 10 points of the half to go up 39-20. Senior scoring sensation Jon Michael Brown had 15 points and Joseph Johnson, who didn’t play in a three-point loss to the Panthers early in the season, had 10 at the break. No Panther had scored over six.
There’s been no report of the Panthers’ dressing room needing to be repainted after what had to be Coach Todd’s blistering appraisal of his players’ first half performance, but they came back ready to play and more. The Panthers scored the first 13 points of the quarter, pulling to within 39-33 on Darden’s drive before Austin Dukes hit a pair of free throws for Todd with 3:40 remaining in the quarter. At that juncture, Chris McGinnis of WRUS showed Russellville having hit 5 of 9 field goal attempts in the half while the Rebels were 0 of 7.
Russellville continued the barrage. Barrett Croslin hit a 3-pointer, Darden popped in a pair of free throws, Christian Naylor and Lee McMurry hit shots, and the Panthers tied it at 45-45 on Croslin’s goal assisted by Naylor. The score was tied at 49-49 at the end of the quarter with Croslin having scored 10, McMurry 7 and Naylor 6 in the third period.
On the opening possession of the fourth quarter, McMurry gave the Panthers the lead on a Naylor assist. It still wasn’t easy. The Panthers had to come from behind eight more times. They also had to survive a technical foul (Todd hit only one of four foul shots on the combined personal and technical), and—after an offensive turnover, Brown went to the line for a pair of free throws with 9.4 seconds left. That might have given the Rebels the win in regulation. Instead he hit only one of them, and the game went into overtime at 65-65.
It seemed like the Panthers were in control when Rivera hit two free throws, and McMurry stole the ball on the inbounds play to make it 72-69. But Johnson got his first bucket for Todd since halftime. Croslin responded with a 3-pointer to push the lead to four. Todd came back and took the lead before freshman Micah Naylor hit two free throws to tie the game at 78-78.
The winning points came on two free throws by McMurry with 13.4 seconds. Brown had the ball and was looking for the tying or winning goal when Croslin took it away from him to end the game.
McMurry finished with 28 points—22 after halftime—and Croslin with 21—17 after halftime. Playing only his second game of the season, Darden added 9 while Naylor had 8. Rivera scored 10 points, going 6 of 8 at the line.
For Todd, Brown had 9 points in the overtime. Johnson was the only other home player in double figures with 12. Brown hit 12 of 19 free throws. His team was 21 of 34 overall.
Russellville improved its record to 7-11, including 5-5 in the region. Glasgow is 10-8 overall.
Tonight’s game probably won’t begin until about 8, according to RHS Athletic Director Nathan Thompson, because the girls champion will be honored and get to cut down the nets before warmups for the boys begin,
WRUS is broadcasting Logan County’s homecoming district doubleheader with Franklin-Simpson, but McGinnis says the station will do updates on the Panthers’ championship game.
Score by quarters: 1) TODD 21-13, 2) TODD 39-20, 3) 47-47, 4) 65-65, FINAL) Logan County 80-78
LCHS (80) Lee McMurry 28, Barrett Croslin 21, Pedro Rivera 10, Coco Darden 9, Christian Naylor 8, Micah Naylor 2, Jason Mitchell 2, Jaylin McMurry
TODD (78) Jon Michael Brown 28, Joseph Johnson 12, Dylan Wilkerson, Tyler Harris 6, Austin Dukes 4, Treva Drayton 3, Jeremiah Simms 3, Gary Moore 2,Travey Henry 2