TRA will face ECS for the DII-A West Region Crown

<p>Tipton-Rosemark Academy defeated FACS, 67-60, Monday night to end its long win streak at 17 and advance to the Division II-A Boys West Region Tournament Championship game.</p> <p>The Rebels will face No. 2 ECS, which defeated No. 1 Lausanne on the road, 49-36.</p> <p>Here are three takeaways from TRA’s win over the Crusaders.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="775567" first="Cameron" last="Donegan"] might have played his best game of the season</strong></p> <p>The game was tied 31-all early in the third quarter when senior point guard <strong>Cameron</strong> <strong>Donegan</strong> scored six straight points, which were part of an 8-0 run, to put the Rebels out front. Donegan scored nine points in the third quarter, helping TRA build a 48-37 lead heading into the fourth quarter.</p> <p>FACS didn’t have a guard that could stay in front of the 5-foot-8 roadrunner. Donegan was blowing past each Crusader defender each time he was able to get a step ahead. Each time he headed to the basket, he used his craftiness to avoid an offensive foul, going up-and-under in mid-air in slow motion for a layup.</p> <p>Donegan’s production was important because senior wing <strong>Alex</strong> <strong>Anderson</strong> scored only two of his 14 points in third quarter that started with both program trading scores, a similar flow that was showcased in the first half.</p> <p><strong>TRA was able to speed up the Crusaders</strong></p> <p>FACS has been one of the best teams this season in the half-court. The Crusaders have been a patient, smart group that’s always looking to take the right shot instead of taking a shot. In the third meeting this season between both programs, the Rebels made FACS play at a faster pace, more than it would have liked. As a result, the Crusaders had uncharacteristic turnovers, lost the 50-50 ball battle and couldn’t slow the game down quick enough to make TRA run more half-court sets.</p> <p>Junior forward <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="1021729" first="Tyler" last="Byrd"]</strong> led the Rebels with 27 points and a lot of his points came off putbacks, sprinkled in with a handful of transition buckets.</p> <p>"What we had to do was get them out of their comfort zone," TRA head coach Cedric Anderson said. "By doing that, we had to get ball handlers, normally the shooters who are waiting for shots, they had to come handle the ball and be a distributor as well as a facilitator.</p> <p>"So, that’s what threw them off."</p> <p><strong>FACS can benefit in the long run from the loss</strong></p> <p>The Crusaders haven’t felt defeat since the DII-A Boys State Tournament Championship game last season against Lausanne. FACS finished the regular season unblemished and was looking to keep things rolling but the Crusaders get a final chance to hit the reset button and work on the things that caused the loss.</p> <p>"You have to be able to take your wins just like you take your losses," FACS head coach Dee Wilkes said to his team in locker room. "If you can celebrate a win, you got to be able to take your loss, so, you know, we’re going to keep going. One game doesn’t define a season. We’re looking forward to whatever challenge comes. We will be ready to go."</p> <p>The Crusaders showed why they were one of the best teams in DII this season in the final eight minutes. FACS trailed the Rebels, 50-37, at the top of the fourth quarter. The Crusaders turned up their defensive intensity, forced turnovers and had shots to fall.</p> <p>Senior guard Josh Ward’s two foul shots had FACS down 58-56, but the Crusaders gave up easy scores to Byrd and <strong>Eli Ramsey</strong>. Anderson split free throws late to give TRA a 63-57 lead.</p> <p>Junior wing [player_tooltip player_id="1019407" first="<strong>Daniel</strong>" last="<strong>Egbuniwe</strong>"] led FACS with 19 points. [player_tooltip player_id="1021722" first="<strong>Corey</strong>" last="<strong>Savage</strong>"] had 14. TJ Thomas and Josh Ward each had 10.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="775537" first="Kameron" last="Jones"] led ECS in its win at Lausanne</strong></p> <p>The Marquette commit led the Eagles with 19 points in their win over the Lynx. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="775614" first="Thomas" last="Kizer"]</strong> and <strong>[player_tooltip player_id="775647" first="Dominic" last="Brown"]</strong> each had 10 in the win.</p>