ATHENS, Tenn. - Late in his team's game Wednesday against Rhea County, Ooltewah coach Jesse Nayadley needed someone to hit free throws.
Wesley Richey fit the bill.
Richey hit six key shots from the charity stripe in the fourth quarter, helping his Owls hold off the Eagles 63-56 in the first round of the District 5-AAA Tournament at McMinn County High School.
The Owls led 49-32 a minute into the fourth quarter after a putback by Mikhail Creech, but Rhea hit four 3s, the final by Brandon Logsdon cutting the lead to 58-52 with 55.9 seconds to go. Ooltewah's Tyler Whitman split a pair at the free-throw line, then Rhea's Andrew Facciani was fouled while shooting a 3. He hit a pair of free throws to make it 59-54 with 35.6 seconds remaining.
The Owls were 12-for-18 from the line in the final eight minutes, but missed the front end of a pair of one-and-ones and had another foul shot waived off for a line violation. They were 8-for-14 until the final 32 seconds, when Richey hit four straight.
"We've been plagued with that all season," Nayadley said. "Wesley stepped up for us - he's our best foul shooter statistically and we wanted him at the line. He had what was a sub-par game for him, but stepped up and knocked them down when we needed them."
Ooltewah topped their first-half scoring output (22 points) five minutes into the third quarter, when a Decorius Hixon jumper made it 45-28 with 2:55 to go.
"We eventually got the tempo in our favor in the third quarter," Nayadley said. "They slowed the ball down in the first quarter and we had foul trouble in the second, but we were able to make them run in the third and that helped."
With the win, the Owls (19-8) advance to Saturday's semifinals, where they will face the winner of today's Soddy-Daisy-Bradley Central matchup.
Whitman had 17 points to lead a trio of Owls in double figures. Hixon had 15 and Josh Lloyd 13. Logsdon had four 3s and 21 points for Rhea, while point guard Tyler Wilkerson had 14.
"It's a tournament game and we were able to get a feel for it tonight," Nayadley said. "Rhea made shots in the fourth. We probably could have protected the ball better. It wasn't our best effort, but it's a tournament win."