Quick start propels West Union to 1A quarterfinals
Feb. 18—ENTERPRISE — West Union battled the ups and downs on Saturday night.
The Eagles built an 18-point lead in the first quarter, only for it to be erased soon thereafter. But the Class 1A contenders settled in for a solid second half to hold off Blue Mountain 64-54 in the second-round playoff matchup.
West Union (25-5) jumped out to an early 20-2 lead with all five starters contributing with scores in the opening six minutes.
"We came out real hard, solid on defense, not giving up any easy baskets, getting out and running," West Union head coach J.C. Hayles said of the quick start.
With the big lead, Hayles dug into his bench a little, something in hindsight he said was a mistake on his part. That allowed the Cougars (15-11) to climb back into the game, going on a 23-5 run to end the first and spanning late into the second period.
"We were in a rhythm and I subbed too many at one time," said Hayles. "That goes on me, and it wasn't any of the one particular guys, it's just we were in a flow and I go to a majority of bench players on the floor."
The Eagles broke a 27-27 tie with a 6-0 run to close the first half and stretched their lead to 56-42 by the end of the third behind the duo of Greer Manning and Daniel Conlee.
Manning hit a 3-pointer in the first half that opened the paint for him the rest of the night against Blue Mountain's lengthy 3-2 zone. The junior forward scored 14 of his 19 points near the basket.
For Conlee, the senior sharpshooter buried the Eagles' other three 3-point makes (4 of 13) to go with his 19 points. Jon Grey Morrisson added 11 points and nine boards for West Union, which shot 51.7% from the field.
Blue Mountain was 22 of 48 (45.8%) from the field and just 2 of 8 from 3-point range. Koda Hayles had one of the two treys to go with his 12 points.
West Union advances to the 1A quarterfinals at Itawamba Community College on Wednesday, where it will face Wheeler at 8:30 p.m.
Three-Pointers
Turning Point: The Cougars had cut West Union's lead to 49-42 in the final minutes of the third, but the Eagles closed on a 7-0 run, started by a Conlee 3-ball and ended with a floater at the buzzer from Ben Carter.
Point Maker: Blue Mountain senior Jacob Hamblin was 10 of 17 from the floor for a game-high 26 points, and added 11 rebounds and four blocks.
Talking Point: "We've talked about coming out and fighting leading into this game, and not getting knocked back on our heels early, which we did, but it wasn't from lack of effort or anything, it was just their execution. It kind of evened itself out through the end of the first quarter and into the second quarter." — Blue Mountain coach Joe Dan Roberts
