Central's Terron Hayes drives up the court while guarded by Brainerd's Kentrell Evans during Central's 71-55 win Monday in the boys' third-place game of the Best of Preps tournament at Chattanooga State. Hayes led the Purple Pounders with 22 points.All Terron Hayes wanted for his birthday was a win over Brainerd, but if history is any indicator, that's about as easy as asking for world peace.
So Hayes made sure it happened. The Central junior scored 22 points and had at least a half-dozen assists and a handful of steals as the Purple Pounders earned a rare win over Brainerd, 71-55, to capture third place at the Times Free Press Brest of Preps Tournament at Chattanooga State on Monday.
Notre Dame pulled away late from injury-depleted GPS to earn the girls' third-place trophy, 38-31.
For Central (9-3), the win avenged an earlier loss to Brainerd and, according to coach Rick Rogers, could be a sign the program is turning a corner.
"Brainerd has always beaten Central. It's been that way for a quarter for a century," Rogers said. "So mentally, it's tough to get over that mountaintop. We finally made it, but we know we'll see them five or six times. We are two evenly matched teams and we just got the better of them tonight. I think today was the first step into manhood for this team."
A Ryan Montgomery layup off a Hayes pass with 6:55 to play gave Central a lead (46-44) that it would not relinquish. Thirty seconds later Hayes drove for two before Tre Tiller stole the show. The senior, who missed the teams' first meeting, dunked off an offensive rebound to make it 50-43, then fed Montgomery for another stuff after stealing the ball at midcourt.
The lead was seven before Hayes nailed his fourth 3-pointer of the night and Tiller took a feed from Rodney Benford and threw home another vicious dunk for a 12-point lead with 4:02 remaining. The lead steadily grew from there, including two more Tiller dunks, the last one off a pass from birthday boys Hayes.
"This is the best birthday present I've ever gotten," Hayes said. "We just played our hearts out, harder than we've ever played before. Tonight we got over that hump. That fourth quarter was crazy, the most fun we've had all year. It would have been good against any other team, but to beat Brainerd is special because we've never beaten them."
Jamichael Poole added 16 points, Tiller 11 and Montgomery 10 for the Pounders, while Da'V Moore led Brainerd (9-3) with 12, followed by Vesta Melvin Jr. and Jesse Walker with 11 each.
In the girls' third-place game, GPS, despite playing only six players due to injuries, took a 31-30 lead on MacKenzie Jennings' layup with 1:43 to play. However, the Bruisers got only one more shot as the Lady Irish clamped down and Annie Ripper took off.
Ripper, held to two points in the first three periods, scored seven down the stretch, including five consecutive points in the final two minutes. Her free throw gave Notre Dame the lead for good with 1:30 to play, and then she stole the inbounds play and hit a layup for a three-point lead. Moments later, after a GPS missed 3-pointer, Ripper hit another layup off a set inbounds play to seal the win.
Morgan Cantrell led the winners with 14 points, while Kara Ware led GPS with 12.
Signal Mountain girls 57, Heritage 48: Aryn Sanders scored 12 of her 29 points in the final period as the Lady Eagles (10-4) held off a Heritage rally in the fifth-place game. Sanders had nine early points as Signal built a 16-10 lead, and it never trailed.
Sydney Smith led Heritage (6-7) with 14 points, followed by Rachel Thomas with 13 and Jada Hubbard with 12.
Notre Dame 59, Ooltewah 46: Tyler Byrd and Kealy Green combined for 46 points as the Fighting Irish (5-9) used strong play in the middle two quarters to top the Owls in the boys' fifth-place game. Byrd scored 24 and put any Ooltewah comeback hopes to rest with 11 in the fourth period. Green had 16 of his 22 in the second and third periods, when the Irish outscored the Owls 35-14.
Edward Hayes led Ooltewah (6-10) with 15 points, with Joseph Norwood adding 12 and Jarek Boyd 11.
Chattanooga Christian girls 42, Tyner 32: The Lady Chargers (6-10) trailed by three entering the final period, but Joanna Smith took care of that with 15 of her game-high 24 points in the contest for seventh place. Porchia Turner topped Tyner (4-9) with 12.
Ringgold 77, Boyd-Buchanan 52: Jordan Ransom's 17 points, including seven in the third period, spurred the Tigers to victory in the seventh-place game. Deonta Jackson came off the bench to score 10 of his 14 points in the first period when hot-shooting Ringgold took a 28-16 lead. Adam Mullinax and Austin Jackson led the Bucs (4-10) with eight points each.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296.