A regular-season basketball title and the No. 1 tournament seeding it brings generally signifies the path of least resistance to the championship.
But Gerald Harris, coach of Tyner’s top-seeded boys in the upcoming District 6-AA tournament, sees nothing easy about getting to the final, much less winning it. Should the Rams defeat East Hamilton in one of Thursday’s five opening-round games, they’ll potentially have to go through longtime power Brainerd to get to a possible date with Howard, ranked second in the state, or third-seeded Red Bank.
Tyner is 1-2 against Howard this season, but one of those losses was during the Christmas holidays in the Times Free Press Best of Preps tournament final and did not count in the league standings. The Rams won by four points at Brainerd, the fourth seed this week, and had a five-point victory over Red Bank, which has won its last six games.
“We beat Howard early in the year, but they’ve been coming on like gangbusters,” Harris said of the Hustlin’ Tigers, who are on a 14-game winning streak. “We had a real close game with Brainerd. Red Bank has been coming on at the end. I’ve been telling my guys, ‘It’s all about playing good at the end.’
“It’s going to be a competitive district tournament. It’s going to be well worth the money.”