HANCEVILLE - One by one, Mason Bragwell, Jacob Mayberry and Brant Bragwell trudged into the media room at Tom Drake Coliseum on Friday night, their red, puffy eyes and damp cheeks reflecting the pain and disappointment of a fourth quarter gone wrong and a season-ending 87-73 loss to South Lamar in the semifinals of the Class 1A Northwest Regional.
“This was a tough one,” said head coach Clint Isbell, who brought up the rear of the somber procession and looked like he might have just shed a tear or two himself.
The Stallions (23-6) were dressing in an adjacent locker room, and every now and then the celebratory shouts of the South Lamar faithful congregating outside in the walkway could be heard through the door, pouring salt in the wound and drowning out responses to questions that nobody really wanted to answer.
The Bulldogs (22-9) had come out hot on Friday night, hitting six threes in the game’s first 10 minutes and racing out to a 28-18 lead.
“It was like déjà vu from last year,” said Stallion head coach Chris Tucker, whose team had been shot down 66-50 in the 2016 regional semis by a Decatur Heritage squad that went 12-for-16 from beyond the arc. “Those three-pointers hurt. [Belgreen] was making a lot of them, but when they missed, we wanted to make them pay by shooting layups on the other end.”
The Bulldogs finished 9-for-17 from three on Friday, but this time South Lamar had an answer. It came largely in the form of a dominant effort on the glass that produced 15 offensive rebounds and 20 second-chance points.
“We’re a pretty good rebounding team,” said Tucker, tongue planted firmly in cheek. “When you’re six-five, three-fifty, you ought to get every rebound that comes off.”
Tucker was referring to massive junior center Malik Cox, who dominated the paint on Friday with 23 points, 15 boards and four blocked shots. Cox and fellow junior Austin Keasler, a beefy, 6’4 post player who came off the bench to score 11 critical points in the second quarter, presented major problems for Belgreen all night.
“Our guys fought hard and played well, but their big man was tough,” Isbell said of Cox, who grabbed nine offensive rebounds and shot 8-for-16 from the field. “He was hard to deal with. It’s tough to match up with that size. We worked on playing him in front, but they hurt us a few times throwing over the top.
“We’ve played a few other teams that had some size, but not too many 1A teams have two big guys with that much size who can both play.”
Trailing by double-figures after senior guard Adam Green and Brant Bragwell each knocked down their second three of the game in a 10-0 run by Belgreen early in the second quarter, South Lamar got a huge lift from Keasler to begin turning the tide. The reserve big man snatched an offensive rebound off a missed free throw and scored on a putback, later adding a layup at the 3:05 mark to cut the lead to 32-25. Roughly a minute later, Keasler rebounded his own miss and converted a three-point play, sparking his own personal 7-0 run that brought the Stallions within one at 35-34.
A putback by Brant Bragwell sent Belgreen into the break with a three-point lead, but the damage had been done—Keasler shot 5-for-6 from the floor in the second quarter, and the Bulldogs’ relatively comfortable cushion was gone.
“He was huge,” Tucker said of Keasler, who finished with 13 points and five rebounds. “They had no answer for us inside, especially when him and Malik were on the floor at the same time. We believe that if you control the boards, you control the game.”
Cox opened the third quarter with a rebound and a putback, and then a basket by junior guard Chase Gore gave the Stallions their first lead since it was 8-7 less than three minutes into the game. The Bulldogs responded, however, when Mayberry scored in the paint and then dribbled off a high screen from Green to drill a three from the right wing.
Moments later, the Bulldogs gave South Lamar a taste of its own medicine when junior forward Payton Scott rebounded a missed free throw by Mason Bragwell and got the ball right back to the 6’5 sophomore, who splashed a three from the left wing to make it 46-40 with 5:40 left in the third.
“We were just feeling it,” Brant Bragwell said of Belgreen’s hot touch from the perimeter. “We had heard this can be a tough place to shoot, so we didn’t know what to expect. But we all came out and shot the ball well.”
Both teams were efficient offensively in a high-scoring third quarter, with South Lamar shooting 9-for-16 from the field and the Bulldogs going 9-for-15. Five of those baskets came courtesy of Mayberry, who gave the Stallions fits with a series of end-to-end dashes and fast-break finishes. The 6’0 junior guard scored 11 points in the third quarter on 5-for-6 shooting, helping Belgreen stay in front.
Poor defensive rebounding came back to bite the Bulldogs, again, however, late in the third quarter when South Lamar guard Malachi Oglen grabbed a missed free throw by Cox and got the ball to Gore, who buried his fourth three of the night to tie the game 58-58 heading to the fourth.
The Stallions dominated the final eight minutes, shooting 9-for-12 from the field and 10-for-13 from the foul line to out-score Belgreen 29-15 and pull away for the win. The Bulldogs had their last lead at 65-64 following a pair of free throws by Mason Bragwell with 6:11 remaining, but South Lamar surged in front when Gore scored five straight points to spark a 7-0 run.
Two free throws by Green, a jumper by Mason Bragwell, another driving layup by Mayberry and a bank shot by Eli Hiser kept Belgreen right in it, but the Stallions stretched the lead to 80-73 on a pair of free throws by senior forward Carson Lindsey with 1:49 to go. Lindsey provided the dagger on South Lamar’s next trip, taking—and, to his credit, making—an ill-advised three from the left corner that made it 83-73 with barely a minute remaining.
“He knows he’s not supposed to be shooting that shot,” Tucker said, glancing down the press table toward Lindsey and trying his best to sound upset. “We’re trying to milk the clock right there. But Carson and Chase have both hit big shots all year to finish games off for us.
“We just want to be sure we’re playing smart when we have a lead.”
Gore finished 7-for-13 from the floor and scored 19 points, while Lindsey added 15. Meanwhile, freshman guards Oglen and Jarrett Bryant provided a major defensive spark off the bench, forcing the Bulldogs into some untimely mistakes.
“Those are two guys who played on the B-team most of the year who understand their role,” Tucker said. “They really gave us some energy with their ball pressure when we kind of looked like we were walking through mud out there.”
Belgreen finished the night with 25 turnovers, 15 of which came in the first half. After turning the ball over 13 times in the first half, South Lamar only committed four turnovers after the break.
“They did a good job pressuring the ball out top,” Isbell said. “When we stayed calm and took care of the ball, we were able to attack it, but we also turned it over a few times.”
Mason Bragwell hit a career-best three threes (in four attempts) on the night and finished with 22 points on 8-for-12 shooting from the field, topping the 20-point mark for the eighth time this season. Mayberry scored 15 of his career-high 19 points in the second half, finishing 9-for-17 from the field and adding four assists, three rebounds and two steals.
Brant Bragwell scored all 13 of his points in the first half, finishing the night 4-for-8 from the field and 3-for-4 from the line. Green went 3-for-4 from the field and 2-for-2 at the line, adding 10 points and four rebounds. Hiser scored five points, and Scott and senior Grayson Moore each added two.
Belgreen shot 49 percent (27-for-55) from the field and 10-for-13 from the line, while South Lamar finished at 51 percent (32-for-63) from the floor and 17-for-25 from the line.
Despite the disappointing outcome, Belgreen’s trip to Hanceville felt more like the beginning of something than the ending. Granted, six players from this year’s 22-win team will be moving on, but the Bulldogs should return four starters next season—including their top three scorers, each of whom addressed the media after Friday’s loss.
“That’s the good thing about it,” said Isbell, whose first season at Belgreen included a county championship, area titles in both the regular season and postseason, and a trip to Hanceville. “We’re not losing any of these guys. All three of them will be back. They’re not just great basketball players—they’re great kids. They do a great job representing this program, their school and their community. All our guys do.”
For the Bulldogs, this season was about re-establishing a winning culture following a two-year run that had produced just 14 wins on the heels of the program’s most recent regional berth, in 2014. Next season will be about taking the next step and going even further.
“Like Coach said, the seniors laid the foundation for us,” Mayberry said. “Next year it’s up to us to come back and build on it.”
