Published: March 05, 2009 08:32 am      

HOOPS: Tipton tops Oak Hill in sectional

TIPTON — Oak Hill and Tipton offered a stirring encore Wednesday night to their memorable boys basketball sectional final last season.

Down 38-30 with six minutes remaining, top-ranked Tipton rattled off a 15-0 run to take the lead and it went on to beat No. 7 Oak Hill 48-44 in a Class 2A Sectional 40 first-round game in front of a capacity crowd that buzzed with Hoosier Hysteria.

Photo Gallery: Tipton Vs. Oak Hill




“I think Oak Hill deserves so much credit for the way that they played. They certainly had us on the ropes a couple of times,” Tipton coach Travis Daugherty said. “I told our guys before the game that in a game like this, where there are going to be ups and downs and things aren’t going to go exactly the way you planned, I think that is the kind of game that really shows the heart of a champion.

“I was just really happy with the way our guys continued to fight,” he added. “Even though it wasn’t a work of art, I think our ability to win games like this hopefully will continue to benefit us in the tournament.”

Tipton (21-2) advances to play Eastern (11-10) in a semifinal round game Friday. Oak Hill, meanwhile, closed its season with a 17-4 record.

Tipton beat Oak Hill 68-64 in the sectional final last season.

“I felt a little different about this game than I did last year’s game,” Oak Hill coach Kevin Renbarger said. “We got off to a [20-10 lead] last year; they came back and I felt like pretty much controlled the game from that point on. Up until probably the midway point of the fourth quarter, I felt like this game was in hand.

“This is going to be a game that we’re going to go back and watch and see what we could have done differently to make sure that my nine seniors’ season wouldn’t have ended the way that it did.”

The Golden Eagles’ free throw woes proved costly. They made just 7 of 17 attempts, missing the front ends of two one-and-one opportunities in the third quarter — and missing both ends of a double-bonus opportunity while holding a 38-37 lead at 3:17.

The Golden Eagles came in shooting 65 percent from the charity stripe. Renbarger noted they’ve had other games where they struggled from the line. He thought fatigue played a role in the fourth quarter, when they made just 4 of 8.

“I think their ability to get out and pressure us just flat out wore us down,” he said.

Oak Hill came out firing. The Golden Eagles scored the final eight points of the opening quarter to take a 10-4 lead. They went on to lead 18-14 at halftime and 26-16 midway through the third quarter. At that point, the Blue Devils switched to a zone defense that helped them close the gap.

“All year, we’ve really tried to get out and pressure people and that pressure really didn’t bother [the Golden Eagles]. They were able to expose us on the drive a little bit and they just have so many weapons, it’s difficult to guard them in man for 32 minutes,” Daugherty said. “… I’m not sure if we really gained ground in the zone, but we made them stand a little and I think move it more than they wanted.”

Oak Hill led 33-28 at the end of the third quarter and extended its lead to eight, 38-30, at 6:27 of the final quarter. Oak Hill had a chance to extend the lead, but it missed a shot and Tipton guard Greg Dickey followed with a 3-pointer at 5:48 to ignite the Blue Devils’ comeback.

Oak Hill’s next five possessions featured two missed shots from the field, two missed free throws and two turnovers — and Tipton took advantage to grab the lead. Dickey hit another 3-pointer off a Derek Elston screen for a 40-38 lead at 3:05.

Following another Golden Eagle miss, the Blue Devils took the clock down to 1:15. Taylor Maxey drilled two free throws for a 42-38 lead. From there, Oak Hill continued to misfire, allowing Tipton to pull ahead 45-38 at :24. Oak Hill came no closer than four the rest of the way.

Elston finished with game highs of 19 points and 14 rebounds. He scored nine points in the third quarter to keep the Devils within striking distance. Also for the winners, Dickey had 13 points, nine rebounds and five assists, Hoffman had 10 points and Kyle Coleman grabbed nine rebounds.

“The game was so physical that there were really not a lot of opportunities to get in space and make a basketball play. The fourth quarter, we were able to set some ball screens and I thought Greg Dickey did a great job of making good decisions,” Daugherty said, noting Dickey’s two 3-pointers and overall floor play.

Eric Doyle led Oak Hill with 15 points.