Heritage handles Northwest Whitfield, plays for region title

DALTON, Ga. - Hunter Erickson has a new hairstyle out of necessity. He calls it a "top-knot" with the simple purpose of keeping his long brown hair out of his eyes so he can see the basketball court a little better.

He started it Thursday. He went with it again Friday. His Heritage team won both games, including 57-50 over Northwest Whitfield on Friday in a Region 7-AAAA semifinal.

"I can see," Erickson joked. "But I also can't cut my hair while we're winning."

Noah Hill led the Generals with 13 points, including seven in the fourth quarter. Dylan Bice scored 12 points despite missing a couple minutes of the third quarter and suffering a cut above his right eye. Erickson added 10 points, including eight straight during a two-minute span of the third quarter.

"We got the ball inside, attacked and hit some 3s," Erickson said. "Then they put the press on us and we got out of whack."

Luke Shiflett led the Bruins (19-6) with 18 points, but none of his teammates reached double figures in scoring.

"This is probably one of our lowest point totals of the season," Northwest coach Ryan Richards said. "We were out of sync early and our first three quarters weren't very good.

"We had chances to make shots and get rebounds but didn't do it."

The Generals (20-7) will play tonight for a region championship and host a first-round game of the state tournament next week. The Bruins will hit the road for their state-tournament opener.

"Everything beyond tonight is icing on the cake," Heritage coach Kevin Terry said.

The Bruins fell behind 21-16 at halftime but tied the game less than a minute into the third quarter. Then Erickson went on his run to help the Generals take a 33-21 lead with three minutes to go in the third quarter. Northwest rallied and tied the game at 35 with 4:52 to play on a bucket by Levi Mosteller.

Unfazed, the Generals went on a 10-0 run and led 45-35 with 3:27 to play. But a few brain cramps and the Bruins' pressure caught Heritage off guard, allowing the Bruins to pull within five with two minutes to play. But Heritage closed by making 8 of 10 free throws down the stretch.

"Every time we'd make bonehead plays we snapped out of it," Terry said. "Hitting free throws late were big."

Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP.

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