Gilmer travels to Sandy Creek for round 1
Gilmer High wrapped up the Region 7-3A basketball tournament last week and now knows its postseason destination.
The GHS Bobcats faced the East Forsyth Broncos in the consolation finals held in Hall County last Tuesday. EFHS had their outside-shooting game humming, and built a formidable lead after a quarter.
The Bobcats spent the final three quarters playing catchup and came up short in the end, 57-55.
The Broncos were deadly from beyond the three-point arc while the Bobcats ran their offense through the post. EFHS hit six threes in the opening quarter for a 24-10 lead.
Gilmer altered its defensive game plan, which exposed other deficiencies.
“We could have stayed in a zone if we were scoring while they were scoring, but we weren’t,” said head coach Jordan Hice. “I’ll trade a two for a three for a quarter, but they were hitting threes, and we were going down and coming back with empty buckets.
“We got into a man, and that contained them a little bit, but then we were giving up more points at the rim on the drive because they were playing five guards, so we were mismatched in that area.”
The Broncos made 13/29 three-point attempts on the day. Gilmer was no slouch offensively and made 49 percent of shots from the field as Ethan Banks (16 points), Cade Carter (12) and Jackson McVey (10) led the way.
“We’d make a run on them then they’d go on a run for six easy points,” said Hice. “We got it down a few times, and they’d bump it back to more than 10 points. It took us until halfway through the third quarter until we finally started hitting some outside shots. They were giving us outside shots and collapsing down low.”
Both teams went cold to start the second quarter, and EFHS led 34-20 at the break. When Gilmer’s outside shots started to fall in the third and the Broncos’ did not, GHS trimmed their lead to 45-37 with eight minutes to play.
The fourth was a microcosm of the entire game. East Forsyth started the quarter with a trio of three pointers while GHS went inside to Lewis Mulkey and McVey for points. Down by 10 with 2:47 left in the game, Banks hit threes on consecutive possessions.
After Will Kiker drew a foul and made both free throws, the deficit stood at 54-52 with 41 seconds on the clock. GHS was forced to foul and EFHS made a pair from the line. McVey answered with an offensive rebound and putback, and also added a free throw.
Clinging to a 56-55 lead with only 3.4 seconds remaining in the game, the Broncos added a final free throw. The second attempt missed, and GHS secured the rebound but could not get a shot in the waning moments.
McVey led Gilmer with six rebounds and added two blocks. Mulkey scored seven points, Christian Sumner finished with six, while Kiker added four, and Britt Taylor dished four assists.
The loss sent GHS (19-10 overall) to Tyrone at press deadline to take on Sandy Creek. The Patriots are ranked No. 1 in Class 3A, have a 25-3 record and were undefeated versus Region 5-3A opponents.