East Hamilton lost the basketball in a couple of late-game situations Monday and ultimately lost more than that.
The late turnovers were key factors in Riverdale's 50-45 Class AAA state-sectional victory over the host Hurricanes, who were making a bid for a second trip to the TSSAA state tournament after earning their way last year for the first time in program history.
Instead, Riverdale (26-7) will be playing in its hometown, Murfreesboro, as one of eight teams with a chance to win the Class AAA state title next week.
The Warriors went ahead 45-43 when Elijah Cobb made both ends of a one-and-bonus situation with 55.8 seconds to play. Then as East Hamilton worked the ball around looking for a shot, point guard Justin Dozier accidentally dribbled the ball off the toe of his shoe.
Riverdale's Maliek McAllister reacted quickly, diving to the floor and not only securing the ball but getting a timeout called with 26.4 seconds remaining. Rashaad Thompson ended up at the free-throw line at the 22-second mark and also converted a one-and-one.
"It's all credit to him," Riverdale coach Michael Voss said of McAllister. "Maliek was going for the loose ball and got it and got the timeout. At the end of the day, it was the play of the game. We were up two at the time. We got to the foul line and were able to go up four. It was a big momentum play."
East Hamilton got a field goal inside from Drew Williams with 10 seconds to go before managing to foul McAllister with 7.1 seconds left. He made the front end of his bonus situation but missed the second.
The 'Canes got the ball into the frontcourt and called time out with 3.5 seconds to play, but Cam Montgomery was unable to come up with a pass to him in the left corner and lost the ball out of bounds. Cobb's two free throws with 2.4 seconds remaining provided the final margin.
"We sank down on them defensively pretty well, and we scored at opportune moments," Voss said. "We controlled the tempo a little more with our offense, too. I thought we were able to slow their running game down. One of the things they do well is get out in transition.
"I thought our shot selection on offense was good for the most part. When we're at our best we're taking good shots and sprinting back on defense."
The 6-foot-7 Cobb led the Warriors with 17 points - 13 in the second half. He got scoring support from Brayden Siren, who had 13 points and was an even bigger matchup problem at 6-9.
"That killed us," East Hamilton coach Zach Roddenberry said. "(Siren) did a heck of a job on the boards. He just did a great job of being long. It was tough trying get him off the block."
East Hamilton (25-8) trailed most of the game with 31-23 being the largest deficit. The 'Canes not only battled back but took the lead at 43-41 on Williams' runner in the lane with 5:23 to go.
Montgomery didn't score in the first quarter but ended up leading East Hamilton with 13 points. Williams contributed 10.
"A lot of people folded on us after we went through a lot of stuff a couple of months ago," Roddenberry said. "We just fought through it. If you had told me then we'd be here today fighting for a state berth at home, I'd have told you, 'You're crazy.' A lot of that is on these seniors. They didn't want to go out on that kind of note."
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. F0llow him on Twitter @KelleySmiddie.