Howard threw the ball to the other team all too often.
And Tyner repeatedly tossed the ball into the basket during a critical stretch in the third quarter that allowed the Rams to pull away for a 67-43 District 6-AA win Friday night.
“Turnovers have been our bugaboo all season,” Howard coach Walter McGary said. “We have 10th-graders that should be better and know better, but they haven’t got the gist of high school basketball.
“Maturity has a lot to do with the turnovers we had.”
Tyner senior Daaron Maston displayed leadership with 16 points, including four 3-pointers and a breakaway dunk in the fourth quarter. Kevin Cameron also scored 16 points for the Rams — seven at the free-throw line — and Kenneth Bulloch added 15 points with seven in the fourth quarter.
Desmond Strickland led the Hustlin’ Tigers with 12 points.
“Another district win, a district road win, is good for us,” Tyner coach Gerald Harris said. “We were ready for Howard tonight.”
The Tigers (4-9, 2-4) didn’t seem ready after a nine-day break between games. Their early problems could have been from some rust, or it could have been Tyner’s defense that forced Howard into turnovers on 11 of its first 15 possessions. Yet the Tigers led 10-9 after the first quarter.
An 11-2 run by the Rams (6-5, 3-1) in the second quarter gave them a 28-20 lead when the dance team took to the floor during halftime.
“We pressed them and made them uncomfortable,” Tyner sophomore guard KeMarcus Young said. “We stayed focused and kept calm.”
The Tigers chipped away at Tyner’s lead through the first six minutes of the third quarter. They pulled within 36-35 on a bucket by Strickland, who had eight points in the quarter.
“We got back into it by following directions and hustling,” McGary said. “Then for some reason, we just stopped.”
And Tyner started hitting shots. Cameron sank a 3-pointer. Then Young hit one. Then Maston hit two. All were on the Rams’ last four possessions of the quarter. A one-point lead swelled to 10.
Tyner’s lead continued growing in the fourth quarter as the Tigers went the final six minutes with nothing more than a single free throw to show for their offensive efforts.
“We stayed in front of them on defense, limited their open shots and started getting rebounds,” Maston said. “When it got close, we stayed poised.”
Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP.