CLEVELAND, Tenn. - The weather may have been unusually warm for February, but inside Walker Valley's gymnasium Tuesday night there definitely were some flurries. They were of the scoring variety, and all provided by Cleveland's Blue Raiders.
The District 5-AAA regular-season champion and No. 5-ranked team in the Associated Press boys' high school basketball state poll was equally effective with its pressure defense and half-court offense, and the result proved to be overwhelming for Walker Valley, which fell to the Blue Raiders by a score of 81-36 in the district tournament final.
East Hamilton defeated McMinn County 81-70 in the third-place game. All four teams advance to the Region 3 tournament.
Boys' region quarterfinals are Saturday at 7 p.m. local time of the host school. Cleveland (22-4) will host Cookeville and Walker Valley (18-15) will host Warren County. East Hamilton (22-7) will play at White County and McMinn County (10-17) will play at Stone Memorial.
The Mustangs owned a 3-0 lead at the outset of the title game, but once Cleveland took a 5-3 lead on Romeo Wykle's 3-point goal midway through the first quarter, the landslide began.
"I thought our defensive intensity provided some pretty good looks for us," Cleveland coach Jason McCowan said. "When we started getting deflections and getting our hands on the ball, we were able to turn our defense into offense."
A little after Wykle's 3, Cleveland scored six points in exactly a minute, and it followed that with another 6-0 spurt in the last 58.6 seconds of the first quarter. The lead was 17-5 at the end of the first period, then grew as high as 26 late in the second quarter.
"The flood gate came open and we couldn't close it back," Walker Valley coach Bob Williams said. "They had such good momentum, we couldn't get back in the game. I went ahead and pulled my guys early in the third quarter. We've got to get ready for Saturday."
In addition to the layups off their defense, the Blue Raiders made 10 3-point shots, led by Wykle's three. McCowan also credited Wykle, who scored 11 points, for being the pace-setter on the defensive end. The coach also praised the reserves who not only finished the game but had provided scout-team looks as Cleveland prepared for the game.
Dionte Davis didn't score in the first quarter but ended up leading Cleveland with 25 points. The junior reached the 1,000-point mark in his career with a field goal early in the fourth quarter.
Ware, JaCobi Wood (18 points) and Deontae Davis each made two shots from behind the arc.
"With Dionte Ware, Deontae Davis and JaCobi Wood, those guys can score in bunches," McCowan said. "They're all really good offensive players who have worked hard to become good defensive players."
Zeke Westfield topped the Mustangs with 10 points.
"I've been around a long time and have been on both ends of games like these where everything is clicking for one team," Williams said. "That's basketball. We're moving on to the region and we're hosting a game Saturday. I told the guys, 'We've earned the right to do that.' We just didn't have a good game tonight."
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him on Twitter @KelleySmiddie.