THARPTOWN - The Tharptown Wildcats secured a spot in the Class 1A, Area 13 championship game with a 79-65 victory over the Hackleburg Panthers in Belgreen on Thursday night.

Though a comfortable win in the end for the third-seeded Wildcats (10-12), they started off the game slowly and allowed the Panthers to jump out to a quick lead. Midway through the first quarter, Hackleburg had a 10-5 lead and all of the momentum.

“We did start a little slow, and we came in knowing that we were going to try and pressure them early,” said Tharptown head coach Jonathan Odom. “When you do that, you know you might give up some early points, and we did.”

A few scoreless possessions for both teams finally ended with three minutes to go in the first quarter when Tharptown senior Mikey Rosson went into the lane and made a layup while drawing a foul. Rosson, who finished the game with 29 points, made his free throw to cut the deficit to three points.

“Mikey had a great game, and he’s been great for us all year,” said Odom, whose team will face top-seeded Belgreen in Saturday's area final at 7 p.m. “I think he got us going in the first half and was solid the entire game.”

Rosson’s free throw was the beginning of a 10-3 run by the Wildcats that put them up 15-13 at the end of the opening period. Tharptown’s run continued into the second quarter before Hackleburg ended its six-minute scoring drought with the score 21-15.

“We stayed with our game plan and played well in the second quarter,” Odom said. “All of our guys were starting to get hot and make shots consistently, and I think when we get hot and on a run we’re hard to beat.”

Tharptown continued to work Hackleburg’s defense in the paint but also started to find their range from beyond the arc. The Wildcats buried six three-pointers in the second quarter, stretching their lead to 14 points with just under a minute remaining.

“We got our shots to land and picked up our confidence late in the first half,” Odom said. “We hustled and got some stops and some turnovers, which really helped up pick up the lead.”

Only making matters worse for Hackleburg, a frustrated Panther player was given a technical foul for slamming the basketball after a timeout. With just a few ticks left before halftime, Tharptown sank one of the technical foul free throws and drew another foul on the following inbounds play. Going into the locker room at halftime, Tharptown led 39-23.

Coming out of the half, the Wildcats continued to play well, but Hackleburg refused to quit. After an opening three-pointer from Tharptown’s Matt Hall, Hackleburg went on a run of its own.

Led by sophomore Kaleb Moore, the Panthers initiated a 23-12 run that lasted through the end of the third quarter. The surge from Moore and his teammates cut the Tharptown lead to seven points, with the score 55-48 at the beginning of the final period.

Moore, who finished the game with 29 points, scored 24 of Hackleburg’s 42 second-half points.

“What can you say? [Moore] is just a great player, and he got pretty hot in that second half,” Odom said. “He’s one of the best players I’ve seen in a couple of years.”

Unfortunately for Hackleburg, Moore’s efforts fell short. The seven-point deficit the Panthers faced with 7:44 remaining would be as close as they could get to the Wildcats the remainder of the game.

“I think [Moore] got into some foul trouble early in the game, so we didn’t see him much in the first half,” Odom said. “Thankfully, I think near the end of the game we tired him out a little and he started missing some shots.”

As Moore seemed to slow down, Rosson and the Wildcats began to pick it up. A Hackleburg cold spell allowed Tharptown to go on a run. Two consecutive three-pointers by Braden Key gave Tharptown a commanding 69-55 lead.

Despite their attempts to foul their way back into the game, the Panthers could not catch back up. Tharptown added another 10 points, mostly off free throws, and finished the game strong.

“It was a great win for our team against a good Hackleburg team. The guys hustled and played hard the entire game,” Odom said. “This win will give us some confidence going into the next game. We’ll have a plan ready, and we’ll do our best to be ready for it.”

Tharptown lost both regular season meetings with the Bulldogs (20-8), falling 81-60 at Belgreen on January 6 and 68-45 at home on January 16.