By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director
CENTRE – Spring Garden 6-foot-7 senior post player Jake Welsh was in agony on Saturday night.
No, he didn’t suffer a serious injury. He just knew the Spring Garden Panthers were so close to clinching their second straight Cherokee County Tournament championship and third in the past four seasons.
But even with Welsh’s large frame, the game was out of his hands.
It was in those of Sand Rock 5-11 sophomore point guard Ty Traffanstedt’s.
With Spring Garden up by three and the closing seconds ticking down, Traffanstedt launched a would-be game-tying 3-pointer. The shot missed the mark, but Traffanstedt was fouled on the play. He was sent to the free-throw line with 0.4 seconds remaining.
Traffanstedt sank the first shot. Following a Spring Garden timeout, Traffanstedt made the second, pulling the Wildcats within a point of tying the game.
But Traffanstedt’s third shot rimmed off and fell into John Welsh’s hands as time expired, allowing the Panthers to escape with a thrilling 51-50 victory to keep them undefeated at 22-0.
“That was horrible,” Jake Welsh said of the anxious feeling he had in the closing seconds. “My heart was beating so fast. I didn’t know what was going to happen. He’s (Traffanstedt) really good and he can shoot really good. I really didn’t know the outcome.”
It was another nail-biting outcome the Panthers have been accustomed to this season. It was the top-ranked Class 1A Panthers’ fifth this season by three points or less.
“There’s not a substitute for experience, whether it’s being in the big games, close games, tournament championship games,” Spring Garden coach Levi Hatcher said. “This championship for the guys is really a culmination of just the experiences they’ve encountered over the past few years. They just learned from them, grew from them, and they’ve kind of hardened a little bit in terms of just being mentally tough so when things don’t go their way, they’ll be able to respond, keep their wits about them and persevere through those.”
Coming off a two-win season from a season ago, Class 2A, No. 6 Sand Rock (15-9) has proven perseverant this season as well, falling just short of their first Cherokee County Tournament title since 2021.
“I was proud of our boys. They came out and played really, really hard,” Wildcat coach Nick Traffanstedt said. “We had a few miscues on our screen coverages that caught us early, but they kept it together. This group is getting better and better every game. You can see it from our actions. They’re improving every game. I was super proud of them for their effort.
“We kept it close throughout the game. Spring Garden had the lead most of the time, but we had an excellent fourth quarter. We had 19. We just needed 20 there to tie it up.”
The younger Traffanstedt tied Saturday’s championship game up at 44 with 2:29 remaining in the fourth quarter by sinking a 3-pointer. The Panthers turned to their big-bodied Jake Welsh from there.
On the ensuing trip, Jake Welsh was hit a shot inside the paint and was fouled on the play. He hit the ensuing free throw to put the Panthers back up 47-44.
After a pair of free throws by Cam Gifford brought the Wildcats within one at 47-46, Jake Welsh delivered another big inside shot to put Spring Garden back up by three at 49-46 with 1:22 to go.
“That comes with experience, being a senior,” Jake Welsh said. “I knew they like to block shots, so I head faked and did all I could to make it.”
Following a Sand Rock timeout, Ty Traffanstedt drove inside and made another big shot to bring the Wildcats within one again at 49-48 with 41.1 seconds remaining.
Spring Garden’s Noah Barber was fouled on the other end and sent to the line with 17 seconds to go. He made both shots, giving the Panthers a 51-47 advantage and setting the stage for Sand Rock’s last chance in regulation.
“It just seemed like both teams kept having answers for each other,” Hatcher said. “When you have teams that know each other well, that play really tight games, that was just a great battle. When they’d score, we’d score. It was just a good job by both teams answering each other. We never got outside of arm’s length either way. I’m just glad our guys were able to stick to their training and come out and finish the way you want them to.”
John Welsh led the Panthers with 16 points. Jake Welsh rang for 12 points and Connor Bates scored 10. Jaylen Brown finished with six points.
Ty Traffanstedt led Sand Rock with a game-high 25 points, including four 3-pointers.
“He played great and missed one at the end,” Coach Traffanstedt said. “I told him after the game nobody is mad at him. You’ve just got to use that as an experience to learn. He’s got two more years in this county tournament. Next time he’ll do better.”
“He’s tough,” Hatcher said. “He hit a few tough shots for them. He’s kind of the cog that gets them going. I told him at the end of the game, keep your head up. I know you missed that one free throw, but you’re probably not in that position if you don’t make some tough shots early. He’s a gritty player. We fully expected him to have a game like that.”
Cam Gifford added 11 points for Sand Rock. Will Cleere and Wyatt Miller finished with eight and six points respectively.
“These kinds of games you get a lot of experience, especially playing against Jake and John,” Coach Traffanstedt said. “This game is only going to make us better going into our area and finishing out the season.”
Junior Varsity Boys Championship
Cherokee County 41, Cedar Bluff 32
CENTRE – Alex Rogers tossed in 13 points to lead the Cherokee County junior varsity boys basketball team to a 41-32 win over Cedar Bluff to clinch the JV boys county championship on Saturday at Richard Lindsey Arena.
Aidan Mansell and Chris Cobb both added 10 points for the Warriors.
Keondre Wynn topped the Tigers with 17 points, including a 7-of-8 performance from the free-throw line. Memphys Anthony finished with eight points.
Cedar Bluff led 11-10 at the end of the first quarter. The Warriors surged out in front 20-15 at halftime and led 34-23 after three quarters.
