Spring Garden Boys Capture Class 1A Area 13 Championship

Spring Garden's Dylan Rogers pulls up for a jumpshot against Cedar Bluff on Saturday. Photo by Shannon Fagan.
Spring Garden’s Dylan Rogers pulls up for a jumpshot against Cedar Bluff on Saturday. Photo by Shannon Fagan.

CEDAR BLUFF – A few years ago, when the current Spring Garden varsity boys were playing in the Cherokee County Junior High championship game against Cedar Bluff, head coach Ricky Austin talked about as much fun that championship was, how much fun it would be to someday win an area championship.

What Austin said to the young Panthers then resonated with them on Saturday night at Cedar Bluff.

Behind seven first-half 3-pointers and a 23-of-32 performance from the free-throw line, Spring Garden earned a 62-48 victory to clinch the area title.

“I didn’t even think they were thinking of an area championship at that age, but I started planting that seed in their heads then because I knew they were the future of our program,” Austin said. “I wanted them to think about it.”

“They reminded me of that (junior high championship) when we got in the locker room. I’m just so proud of our bunch right now. They’ve stuck with me. They’ve had to go through some battles. It’s awful nice to see them get this reward.”

The Panthers (15-14) host Paint Rock Valley in sub-regional action on Tuesday. Paint Rock Valley fell to eighth-ranked Skyline 89-66 in the Area 14 tournament final on Saturday. Number 10 Cedar Bluff (17-12) will travel to Skyline.

“We knew this would come around one year,” said Dylan Rogers, who finished with 18 points and five rebounds for the Panthers. “It’s always better when we’re playing in our home gym. We feel more comfortable there. We feel like we can shoot better.”

The Panthers also paid attention to something else Austin said prior to Saturday’s game during film study of Cedar Bluff’s tendencies. Austin said he put dots on the board “telling them this is where the shots are coming from in the first quarter, so shoot them.”

“They just said ‘Yes sir’, and they went out there and made them,” said Austin, who’s team sank four treys in the first quarter en route to a 16-4 lead. “That’s fun to see them be successful like that.”

Draevan Bowman sank two of those first-quarter treys and finished with three in the game. He had 10 total points. Dakota Lambert and Rogers had the other first-quarter treys. Lambert posted 12 points, 10 rebounds and two steals.

Rogers and Bowman both earned spots on the all-tournament team, but it was tournament Most Valuable Player Riley Austin who come up big down the stretch.

After Cedar Bluff cut Spring Garden’s lead to six at 38-32 after three quarters and to three at 39-36 on a basket by Isaiha Jones with just over seven minutes remaining in the game, Austin made 11 of 14 free throws down the stretch to help the Panthers preserve the lead and the win.

“This was big because we know we can do this now,” the younger Austin said. “They had us out-athleticized, and it just came down to fundamentals.”

While Riley Austin was making his free throws, the Tigers weren’t connecting on theirs. They finished 6-of-21 from the charity stripe for the game.

“Down the stretch, we had nine free throws we missed in a row,” Cedar Bluff coach Joe Carpenter said. “We had opportunity to catch up, but we didn’t. It all comes down to the effort we want to give. We’ve got to learn those things, and we have yet to learn that.”

Davion Fife led the Tigers with 18 points, including five 3-pointers. He fouled out of the game with 2:52 remaining.

Michael Croft contributed 13 points and Rashawn Woods finished with eight points.

Fife and Croft, along with Coosa Christian’s Caden Davidson, were all-tournament selections.

he Spring Garden Panthers captured the Class 1A, Area 13 championship on Saturday with a 62-48 victory over Cedar Bluff. The Panthers are coached by Ricky Austin. Photo by Shannon Fagan.
he Spring Garden Panthers captured the Class 1A, Area 13 championship on Saturday with a 62-48 victory over Cedar Bluff. The Panthers are coached by Ricky Austin. Photo by Shannon Fagan.
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