Coach Todd Gill had his Olmstead team playing precision basketball when tournament time arrived along with February. The Rams were virtually unchallenged in romping to their second championship of the Logan County Middle School Tournament in three years.
Saturday top-seeded OMS crushed Lewisburg 56-19 in the semifinals at Logan County High School. In Tuesday’s finals, the Rams led Auburn 41-9 at the half, triggering a “running clock” throughout the second half on the way to a 63-25 win.
The Olmstead press was relentless in the early going of the championship game. Auburn had trouble getting the ball as far as the three-point line on their side of the court before turning it over. Often the steal came much earlier, even in the Olmstead frontcourt after the Rams had just scored.
Auburn was playing without guard Jack Wright, who was sick at home.
Olmstead led 23-0 before Cooper Covington hit a pair of free throws for the Tigers with 1:31 remaining in the first quarter. A minute later, Covington, who had come off the bench, scored the Tigers’ only goal of the quarter.
Dalton Nash scored 10 of his 14 points in Olmstead’s first quarter, and Lorenzo Garcia added 9 of his game-high 15 points in that frame.
Gill went deep into his bench with 11 Rams scoring in the championship game. Austin Gregory and Garrett Wilhelm each scored 5 for Auburn.
Olmstead’s semifinals win over Lewisburg found Garcia scoring 23 points, 20 of them coming in a first quarter that ended with OMS ahead 26-5. Again, Gill went to the bench, and reserve Robert Dancer scored 8 points in the second quarter; he finished with 12 points, and Nash added 9.
Ethan Smock and Alex Wilson each scored 5 for Coach Jerald Tabb’s defending champion Rangers.
Lewisburg had reached the semifinals by winning the only close games of the boys division. The Rangers eliminated Chandlers 22-19 in Thursday’s opening round. Jonathan Furlow scored all 4 of his points in the fourth quarter that began with the Bears up 15-14. Smock led LMS with 8 points while Aaron Baugh and Jacob Smock also totaled 4 each.
Kaleb Justice led Coach Stanley Fleming’s Bears with a game-high 11 points. Dontavious Blann had 6 and Connor Hopkins hit Chandlers’ only other bucket.
Auburn was a winner in Saturday’s semifinals, setting up another finals berth for veteran AMS coach Josh Hall. The Tigers beat Adairville 48-21with Wilhelm coming off the bench to score 16 points. A dozen of them came in the second half, including 6 of 6 free throws. The Tigers finished 8 of 9 at the line.
John Higgins had 8 points for Auburn, but just as impressive was his tenacious defense on Adairville’s Luke Davenport, who had been averaging double figures for the Cardinals in recent games.
Adairville was literally short-handed, since guard Jackson Campbell sat out the game with a torn thumb he had suffered in a baseball drill. Coach Todd Webb had hoped that he would be allowed to play while wearing a cast. Game officials Timmy Hooper and Mike Belcher, however, enlisted the advice of veteran official Tony Franklin, who said the cast was too hard to wear in a game.
The Cardinals were also without their leading scorer, Austin Rayno, who had severely injured his ankle a couple of weeks earlier. A seventh grader, Rayno had been the Cardinals’ leading scorer in the county tournaments the last two years. He scored 18 as a fifth grader and 17 last year.
Coach Gill was assisted by Justin Adams and Drew Teel on the championship team. Assisting Coach Webb at Adairville were Kevin Rayno and Jennifer Webb. Travis Anderson and Brian White assisted Coach Jerald Tabb at Lewisburg. Adam Decker is a co-coach with Coach Fleming at Chandlers. Auburn’s Hall does not use assistant coaches.
In both the boys and girls tournaments, Billy Joe Coleman was official timer and disk jockey. Holli Brown and Debbie McReynolds were the official scorers. Barry McReynolds handled the public address duties. Logan County High School officials were in charge, including Principal Casey Jaynes and Athletic Director Hugh McReynolds.
BOYS
Championship Game
Score by quarters: 1) OMS 27-4, 2) 41-9, 3) 49-12, Final) Olmstead 63, Auburn 25
OMS (63) Lorenzo Garcia 15, Dalton Nash 14, Andrew Martin 6, Robert Dancer 6, Mason Parker 5, Will Bingham 4, D.J. Beard 4, Dylan Wilson 4, Andrew Milam 2, Bradley Taylor 2, Landon Thomas 1, Ashton Ross, David Coleman
AMS (25) Garrett Wilhelm 5, Austin Gregory 5, Reggie Powell 4, Cooper Covington 4, Ashton Gregory 3, John Mark Page 2, Jackson Steward 2, Erik Williams, John Higgins, Kelby Epley, Caden McKinnis, Parker White, Koby Wall
Semifinals
Score by quarters: 1) OMS 26-5, 2) 42-14, 3) 51-16, Final) Olmstead 56, Lewisburg 19
OMS (56) Garcia 23, Dancer 12, Nash 9, Milam 4, Bingham 3, Parker 2, Taylor 2, Thomas 1, Martin, Coleman, Beard, Ross, Wilson
LMS (19) Ethan Smock 5, Alex Wilson 5, Mykal Hampton 4, Thomas Bilyeu 3, Jonathan Furlow 2, Jay Hardison, Aaron Baugh, Jacob Smock, Brilee Harris, Brad Jenkins, Noah Morgan
Semifinals
Score by quarters: 1) AuMS 10-4, 2) 20-17, 3) 38-17, Final) Auburn 48, Adairville 21
AUBURN (48) Wilhelm 16, Higgins 8, Williams 6, Page 6, Covington 6, Jack Wright 2, Epley 2, Wall 2, Gregory, Steward, McKinnis, White,
A’VILLE (21) Demanuel Barbee 7, Nick Wooden 4, Ter’Vareus Bowens 4, William Lyons 3, Alton Hallman 2, Matthew Edgar 1, Cameron Gorrell, Mark Lynch, Dalton Thompson, Wyatt Knuckles
OPENING ROUND
Score by quarters: 1) CMS 9-2, 2) LMS 12-11, 3) CMS 15-14, Final) Lewisburg 22, Chandlers 19
LMS (22) Ethan Smock 8, Furlow 4, Baugh 4, Jacob Smock 4, Wilson 2, Hampton
CMS (19) Kaleb Justice 11, Dontavious Blann 6, Connor Hopkins 2, Parker Baxter, Dusty Coker, Jesse Lashley, C.W. Simmons