by Rusty Ellis
MURFREESBORO – The Gordonsville Tigers made program history on Wednesday, as they defeated Memphis Middle College 49-40 in the Class A Quarterfinals in an overtime thriller.
“We’ve done this all year,” said GHS head coach Greg Bibb. “You look at the first part of our year, we were scrapbooking a team together because we had so many people out. They’re resilient, and they don’t whine or point fingers, they just go to work.”
A slow-paced game early, Memphis Middle held a 3-0 lead until the 1:42 mark of the first when J Foster buried Gordonsville’s first shot of the game knot the score. By the time the opening buzzer sounded, it was the Tigers who found some sustainable offense and led 7-3.
The Bulldogs continued the slow pace in the second quarter, but it was Gordonsville who took a nine-point lead on Tristan Wood’s three-pointer with 5:16 to go in the first half. GHS extended to an 18-5 lead on a Brodie Sykes bucket, and when the halftime buzzer arrived, the Tigers led 18-9.
Gordonsville took their biggest lead of the game at 24-9 at the 5:38 mark of the third quarter on a Wood layup, but then Memphis Middle College stormed back on a 13-2 run to cut the led down to just 26-22.
By the end of the frame, it was a 32-25 lead for the Tigers.
The Bulldogs continued to scrap and claw into the lead, and with 1:08 to go in regulation on a Patrick Mask four-point play. Gordonsville hit a free throw to tie the game at 38-38, and four more minutes were needed to decided a winner.
In the overtime period, the Tigers limited MMC to just two points and used an 8-2 run early to put the game away and advance in the Class A State Tournament 49-40 over Memphis Middle College.
“When things like that happen, especially in the state tournament, what you are and who you are really comes out,” Bibb said. “You can’t hide who you are. We were down one after (Mask) made the four-point play, and instead of hanging our heads, they fought back.”
Eli Adams and Brodie Sykes combined for 20 points and 17 rebounds, as their size advantage in the paint is one of the things that carried them to victory.
“We’ve got to keep it going,” Adams said. “We can’t just have one game and think we’re good, we’ve just got to rebound so we can get other players involved.”
Gordonsville will now advance to Friday’s semifinal, where they will play against the winner of Jellico/Frank Hughes.
“You deal with what’s in front of you,” Bibb said of the mentality heading into Friday. “You want to win, you want to win them all and you want to win a state championship. This is about dealing with what’s in front of you, and what’s in front of us next is either Frank Hughes or Jellico. That’s what’s next, and that’s the only thing we need to focused on right now.”
