E'Jay Ward admits he has been a bit hard on Marquis Hinton.
The Tyner basketball player better known as "Mookie" has often tantalized his coach with great stretches of play, but on other days he plays tentatively. In Thursday night's Region 3-AA championship game against Signal Mountain at Red Bank, Hinton scored a game-high 19 points off the bench as the Rams avenged last week's loss in the district title game with a 59-46 win.
"I told my guys that any given night a role player needs to step up," Ward said. "Yesterday it was Kam Dozier, and tonight it was Marquis Hinton. He did a fantastic job off the bench, and he's a kid I've been riding all year to embrace the little. I'm little and it's an advantage at times, and tonight he used it to his advantage."
Tyner (19-10) will host Upperman in Monday's sectional round. Upperman lost 72-48 in the 4-AA title game to Livingston, which will host Signal Mountain (21-13) on Monday.
The diminutive Hinton, who's listed at 5-foot-7, scored 10 of his points in the second quarter Thursday as Tyner went from leading by four to holding a 26-12 lead at halftime. Many of his points came off drive-and-dish plays by point guard Jeremy Elston or quick outlets off defensive rebounds from Solomon Bridgeman.
Tyner's Michael Little nailed a 3-pointer early in the third quarter to put the Rams up by 17, but seven quick points by the Eagles, capped by K.T. Webb's trey, cut the lead to 10 and led Ward to call a timeout. Elston, a senior, then took over.
After making a short jumper, he fed Amon Grace for a layup, hit Hinton for a corner 3-pointer and found Grace for another layup. Grace added another layup off a Little steal, an Tyner's lead was 16 entering the final period.
"Watching Jeremy tonight, it was like he was running touchdowns out there," Ward said of Elston, also the school's star quarterback. "He's been playing for four years, and he's been through three head coaches. He's been playing in championship games since middle school, and he's a tough kid."
Signal Mountain picked up its energy and defense in the final quarter and managed to cut the lead to seven on Webb's free throws with 2:19 to play. However, forced to foul to stop the clock, the Eagles did not get closer as Hinton hit six free throws in the final minute.
"We came out harder tonight," said Elston, who had eight points and eight rebounds to go with at least 10 assists. "We just thought we had the game in the bag (in last week's district final) because we had beaten them twice in the season. We were just lackadaisical in that game, but tonight we played our game."
Grace added 12 points for the Rams, while Wil Allen and Webb led Signal Mountain with 11 each.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296. Follow him on Twitter @youngsports22.