TRA defeats ECS for the DII-A West Region Crown

<p>Tipton-Rosemark Academy defeated ECS, 51-47, to capture its first Division II-A West Region Tournament Championship since the 2018-19 season.</p> <p>The Rebels have clinched the No. 1 seed and a first round bye in the DII-A Boys State Tournament.</p> <p>Here are three takeaways from TRA’s win over the Eagles.</p> <p><strong>Byrd’s key turnover and score helped the Rebels gain momentum</strong></p> <p>TRA was staring down a 42-33 deficit heading into the fourth quarter after senior point guard <strong>Kameron</strong> <strong>Jones</strong> drained an off-balanced 3-pointer from the right corner as time expired. The made 3 capped a 10-0 run by ECS.</p> <p>The Eagles’ lead quickly vanished as the Rebels went on a 10-0 run of their own to take a one-point lead. Senior wing <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="537221" first="Alex" last="Anderson"]</strong> scored five points - converted on a 3-point play - during the run, but the momentum didn’t start to swing until junior forward <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="1021729" first="Tyler" last="Byrd"]</strong> (12 points) stripped Jones from behind on an inbounds play and got a two-handed dunk.</p> <p>The turnover and dunk revitalized TRA. It was a much-needed boost because for most of the game, the pace favored the home team.</p> <p>"They’re a very patient team," Rebels head coach Cedric Anderson said. "The pace of the game was in their favor, and we knew that. The key thing was we put Tyler on Kameron, so we can muscle him up a little bit and that’s how we were able to get that steal.</p> <p>"Our other guys aren’t strong and savvy. Tyler is strong and saavy."</p> <p>Senior combo guard <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="775647" first="Dominic" last="Brown"]</strong> converted on two free throws after senior guard <strong>RJ Seals</strong> picked up his fourth foul. ECS led by one (44-33) for a moment but couldn’t muster much offense after that.</p> <p>TRA finished the game on an 8-3 run.</p> <p><strong>Anderson’s leadership kicked in when it mattered most </strong></p> <p>When the Rebels walked back to their bench after the 3 by Jones put the Eagles up by nine, [player_tooltip player_id="537221" first="Alex" last="Anderson"] had words to express to his teammates in the huddle.</p> <p>All season long, the South Alabama commit’s focus has been to finish the year with a state championship. In a game that seeding purposes were at stake, the 6-foot-6 wing wanted to elevate the entire team’s energy and mindset.</p> <p>"For the first time in his career, before I started to communicate with the team, he took over the huddle and said ’This is on me. We’re going to the state,’" coach Anderson said. I had to respect that. I didn’t say another word after that. I said ’Okay, let’s go.’"</p> <p>The senior delivered on his promise by scoring 25 points and pulling down 20 rebounds. He went 7 for 10 from the free throw line and scored six of the team’s final eight points.</p> <p><strong>TRA made defensive adjustments late to limit ECS</strong></p> <p>It was looking as if sophomore guard <strong>Kenny</strong> <strong>Cox</strong> was going to be the unsung hero for the Eagles. He made two 3s from the corner late in the third quarter as the Rebels failed to close out on him.</p> <p>After Cox’s third made 3 of the game, he didn’t get another great look. TRA, while sitting in its 2-3 zone, started to respect Cox’s ability to make shots a lot more than it previously did.</p> <p>"We wanted to make him put the ball on the ground as opposed to catching it, being comfortable in taking a shot and passing it back out after one or two dribbles," coach Anderson said. "We wanted him to dribble it three, four, five times to allow the backside defenders to get in place to get a deflection."</p> <p>Jones led ECS with 15 points, but picked up his fourth foul at the 4:53 mark of the fourth quarter. He fouled out with 21.1 seconds left.</p> <p><strong>Mason Shropshire</strong> and Brown each had 10 points.</p>