Central’s Rodney Benford keeps the ball from Ripley’s Xavier Alston, left, and Chad Culbreath Thursday in the quarter final game at Middle Tennessee State University.MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — The inside-outside combination of Ripley’s 6-foot-4 post Isaiah Crawley and point guard Chad Culbreath were too much for Central to overcome Thursday.
The Tigers took control late and beat the Purple Pounders 84-69 in the Class AA state basketball tournament quarterfinals.
Crawley and Culbreath combined for 46 points, all but six of which came in the second half, in ending Central’s first state tourney appearance since 2000.
“This is just one day in a long, successful season,” Central coach Rick Rogers said. “We brought these guys over here as freshmen and made it our goal to get back by their junior year to play in it. Today we reached that goal, and I think we made Chattanooga proud with the way we played and competed. Now we want to get back up here and go even further.”
Culbreath’s 25-foot shot just before the buzzer to end the third quarter gave Ripley a three-point lead. The Tigers expanded that with a 5-1 run to begin the four quarter, then scored eight of the next 10 points, all in the paint, to solidify control.
“I told our kids we may never pass this way again, so do it now,” said Ripley coach Lonnie Starks, who guided his team back to the state tournament after a 32-year absence. “We tried to disrupt their rhythm more in the second half and make them work for shots and hopefully wear them down.
“Chad has the green light to take over whenever he feels like it, and Isaiah was able to get a lot of second-chance points and get free inside for some easy baskets, which helped.”
Ripley pulled ahead by nine late in the first half, but Central outscored the Tigers 10-0 in the final 1:33, sparked by 3-pointers from juniors Terron Hayes and Rodney Benford. Those two combined for all 10 of those points as the Pounders took a one-point lead into halftime.
Central’s Ryan Montgomery was called for his fourth personal foul with 2:20 left in the second quarter, but after sitting out the rest of the first half and first two minutes of the third quarter, he played the rest of the way and led the Pounders with 17 points.
“It was real frustrating because you can’t attack the basket or help your team out (with foul trouble),” Montgomery said. “It’s hard to play like that.”
The Pounders, winners of 12 straight games coming into the tournament, shot well overall, making nearly 45 percent for the game, but struggled from 3-point range. They made just 7 of 25 shots from behind the arc. Central, which has only three seniors, also made only 6 of 16 free throws, getting outscored by nine at the line.
“We didn’t convert when we had chances in the second half,” Rogers said. “They got a lot of easy baskets, especially in the second half, and that was the difference.
“But we’ve got seven kids who battled their heart out for two months to get here. There is no disappointment in our locker room, because we accomplished a lot and we have something to build on for a young team next year.”
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293.