CLEVELAND, Tenn. - If the lights were on a little longer than usual Thursday night at East Hamilton High School, blame it on Rodney English.
The boys' basketball coach has kept the postgame celebrations to a minimum this season, but following Thursday's 63-57 Region 3-AAA championship win over Walker Valley at Cleveland - the eight-year-old school's first - English turned his history-making team loose.
"We're going to go and celebrate this like crazy, because I haven't let them celebrate anything all season," a beaming English said. "It means the world to us. This is the first time East Hamilton has been here. Just look at our student body and how they supported us.
"This is so much more than just our basketball team. We haven't had a chance to get all those banners in our gym, but now we can."
The Hurricanes (24-10) will host Blackman on Monday at 7 in the sectional round, while Walker Valley (21-12) will travel to Oakland in Murfreesboro.
Thursday's win over the Mustangs was one of adjustments - and a little good fortune. Walker Valley's defensive plan was to protect the lane and the dangerous combination of East Hamilton big man DaVae Hughley and slashing wing Justin Dozier.
Cameron Montgomery ruined that plan early with four first-period 3-pointers as the Hurricanes took an 18-13 lead.
"We knew they would try to protect their big boy against DaVae and to keep Justin from slashing to the lane, so we knew something had to give," English said. "So the only thing we could hope for was for Cameron to make shots, and thank the Lord he made his shots."
The Mustangs, though, regrouped in the second quarter and found their own strokes. A Bryce Nunnelly drive tied the game at 21, and 3-pointers from Jordan Munck, Kolten Gibson and Nunnelly keyed a 13-5 run and a 34-26 Walker Valley lead with 1:26 to go before halftime.
Over the next five minutes of game time, however, the Hurricanes dominated. They closed out the first half with a 7-0 run, capped by a Montgomery drive, then opened the second half with an 8-0 run, Montgomery getting four of the points.
"I have to give all the credit to my teammates," said Montgomery, who led the winners with 21 points. "I was getting open shots and they were getting it to me."
Walker Valley wasn't finished, getting within 47-45 starting the final period on a pair of Cooper Melton free throws. The lead was three when Dozier and the Hurricanes' defense took over. He scored six consecutive points, capping the run with a steal and layup for a nine-point lead with just over a minute to play.
Walker Valley managed to cut the lead to five on a pair of Melton 3-pointers, but the gap was too much to overcome.
"The most important thing about all of this was win this game," English said. "The last thing you wanted to do was to have to travel to Murfreesboro and play one of those teams on their floor. They are already really good, and to play them on their floor? No, but I will take on anyone on our floor in Chattanooga."
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296. Follow him on Twitter @youngsports22