Dadeville shoots for B’ham after beating Trinity

By Dusty Harper (Contact) | Dadeville Record

Published Wednesday, February 17, 2010

The Dadeville basketball team keeps proving people wrong.

The Tigers got a free throw from Terry Toler with 5.2 seconds on the clock to go on top of Trinity 46-45 in Saturday’s sub-regional game, and Toler took a charge at the buzzer to seal DHS’ sixth straight victory.

This one locked up a regional berth for Thursday at Alabama State, when Dadeville will face No. 1 Sumter County, which beat Northside 64-25.

“This team has done a lot that nobody expected,” head coach Rodney Taylor said. “Nobody thought we could win the county championship, but we did that. Nobody thought we could win at LaFayette, but we did that. Now, we’re in the sweet 16 and I’m sure nobody gave us a chance at that. I think it’s great for us and we’re all really excited.”

In a game full of runs, Dadeville took control early. After taking a 10-9 lead into the second quarter, DHS’ Quin Alvies took over. Alvies made three triples in the period and scored 13 points altogether to give his team a 26-18 halftime advantage.

But, things got rocky in the third quarter, as Dadeville was held to just two Ladarius Wilkerson field goals for the entire eight-minute stanza. Meanwhile, Trinity’s Blake Struthers and Ed Willcoxon scored all 12 of the Wildcats’ points during DHS’ drought and the contest was tied at 30 heading into the fourth.

Trinity ran its lead to six before Kyle Caldwell scored the Tigers’ first points of the quarter with 6:06 to go. The count was 39-34 when momentum swung in favor of the home team.

Toler converted an old-fashioned three-point play with 4:18 left, and Trinity was whistled for a five-second violation, handing the ball right back to Dadeville. Kieran Sturdivant then drew a foul and made the first of two free throws. After missing the second, Alvies pulled down an offensive rebound and found Sturdivant again, who scored with 3:37 to go to make the score 42-39.

Jackson Fendley tied the game for Trinity with a 3-pointer at the 2:43 mark, and the Wildcats would go up by three with 1:40 left on a Willcoxon bucket.

But, Alvies responded with a three to tie the game. DHS missed a go-ahead shot with 15 seconds remaining, but Trinity was called for traveling on its trip down the court. Toler got the ball for Dadeville and drove to hoop, drawing the foul that ended up producing the game-winning free throw.

Trinity raced to the other end and got off a shot at the buzzer, but Struthers was called for charging, ending the game.

“We did not play well to start the second half and got behind,” Taylor said. “We picked them up full court and that caused a lot of problems for them and didn’t let them keep the tempo at their pace. Terry made a free throw, but I was proud of him for sprinting back and taking the charge.

“We’ll probably be overlooked and will be an extreme underdog Thursday, but we’ve got a week to practice, so we’ll see what happens. Either way, this will be a great experience for our young team for next year.”

Alvies scored 16 points for DHS (17-11), and Toler added eight. Struthers had 16 for Trinity. DHS plays at 10:30 a.m. Thursday in the Acadome.

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