LaFAYETTE, Ga. - If the LaFayette Ramblers had their choice, there would have been no halftime during their GHSA Class AAAA boys' quarterfinal game Tuesday against Cross Creek.
After all, the Ramblers used a 22-5 run to close the half and hold a 31-16 lead at Dan Priest Arena, but the next 16 minutes of play were not so kind as the Razorbacks used a change in their defensive game plan to roar back for a 58-55 win.
LaFayette, which had won two postseason games at home this year, ended its season at 25-3, while Cross Creek (24-6) advances to play St. Pius X in the semifinal round Friday.
The Ramblers took advantage of Cross Creek's zone defense to dominate the first half. Guards Jaylon Ramsey and Junior Barber consistently used penetration into the lane to set up big men Asa Deal (team-high 16 points) and Aidan Hadaway (12) for easy baskets. Deal had 10 points in the second quarter, eight of them layups, as LaFayette seemed on the verge of running the Razorbacks out of Walker County.
"It kind of surprised me they started out in a zone," LaFayette coach Hank Peppers said. "Against big, strong athletes like that, a zone plays to our advantage. I didn't think they would stay with it very long, but they pretty much did the entire first half. Now when they went man-to-man, they are big at every position and it hurt us."
Cross Creek coach Lawrence Kelly turned up the heat in the second half defensively, and with a front line that features 6-foot-6, 270-pound Markell Ware, 6-6 Kobe Stewart and 6-5 Corey Trotter to go with rangy guards Josh Dorsey (6-4) and Makhi Climons (6-3), he had a size edge at every position.
The result was the complete closure of the lane for the LaFayette guards, which led to nine second-half turnovers after only two in the first half. Offensively, the Razorbacks, who often settled for 3-point shots in the first half, starting attacking the rim and getting Trotter (19 points, 13 rebounds) easy looks.
His offensive rebound and putback cut the LaFayette lead to 10 two minutes in and started a 9-0 run that ended with Stewart's dunk off a steal. Ware, saddled with two early fouls, then came off the bench to pound the Ramblers even more, scoring five straight points for a brief 37-36 lead.
"I told my guys to stay in it," Kelly said. "This is a very hostile environment, but a great place to play high school basketball, so it was tough. The biggest thing is we let them drive early, but later we got in front of them and made them play our brand of basketball. "
LaFayette, whose starters played all but one minute, took its last lead on a Deal layup early in the final quarter, but Trotter scored four straight, and when Dorsey made a steal and layup, the Cross Creek lead was five. The Ramblers kept battling and kept the game close, cutting it to three on three occasions in the final two minutes.
After Barber's layup made it a 58-55 game with 26 seconds left, the Ramblers had to foul three times to get Cross Creek into the one-and-one bonus free-throw situation, which took 10 seconds. Still, they had a shot to tie after Dajuan Rouse missed the free throw, but a tipped pass led to a turnover as the visitors celebrated their semifinal berth.
"Turnovers get you beat," Peppers said. "But I'm so proud of my boys. It's amazing to go 25-3, region championship and to make the Elite Eight for the second time in three years. We did it starting three sophomores, a junior and a senior. Not a single player on our bench has even dressed for varsity, and we had a whole new starting five. So to do what we did takes a very special group of kids."
* In Class AAA girls' action Tuesday, Sonoraville's season ended with a 58-49 loss to defending state champion Johnson of Savannah. Ringgold's girls host Beach Wednesday night at 6. The Chattooga boys travel to Banks County for a Class AA quarterfinal game.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or call 423-757-6296; follow on Twitter @youngsports22.