CLEVELAND — Who knows if White County boys coach Robbie Bailey believes in astrology, but the stars are surely aligning for the Warriors early on in the Class 3A playoffs.
First, they rallied from 20-points down to shock No. 4 Salem, 62-58, at home on Wednesday. Less than an hour later, a small crowd hanging around afterwards watched No. 4 seed Beach County upset No. 1 seed Long County, 64-61, to set up a second round matchup in Cleveland on Saturday.
“We don’t really care who we play,” Bailey said after his team’s thrilling win in front of a nearly-packed White County gym. “But we would much rather play at home, that’s for sure.”
Thanks to a switch back to what they do best, they will get that chance. But it sure looked like they were in for a quick exit against a hot-shooting Seminoles squad.
Salem (21-6) shot a blistering 15-of-22 (68 percent) from the field in the first half to build a 38-18 advantage against the Warriors' zone defense. But Bailey, who admitted he may have over-thought things just a little bit, called a timeout and said enough of that.
“We’ve hardly played zone this year and I just thought with all the offensive guys they had it would help us,” Bailey said. “I definitely put too much thought into that. They were just about to blow us out.
“In the timeout we decided to go back to our bread-and-butter, which is man-to-man defense. The guys did a great job of getting back in the game.”
Out of the timeout Noah Futch hit a basket. After a Salem turnover Kenny Simpson hit a long 3-pointer, and Jadon Yeh converted a three-point play on their next possession. Silas Mulligan hit two free throws, and Dawson Oliver, who also had a big block and a steal, hit a basket with Dawson Bailey capping a 14-2 run over the final 3:50 to pull White County within 40-32 by halftime.
The fireworks continued in the third quarter as Simpson drained two more 3-pointers and Yeh finished off a 14-5 run with a trey for a 46-45 lead, their first of the game.
“The switch back to a man defense was huge for us,” Simpson said. “We just talked about sticking to our game plan and we started making some shots and they started missing some.”
From there, there was one tie at 50 and then four consecutive alternating baskets to change the lead, with Futch converting a driving layup for the final one at 55-54 with 4:52 left. A Mulligan 3-pointer pushed it to 58-54 and Mulligan and Yeh hit four free throws in the final 1:22 to hold off the Seminoles.
“Jadon is the (Region 7-3A) Player of the Year and everyone knows that,” Bailey said. “But we have a lot of other players. Kenny can shoot as good as anyone around, Silas can score and I just thought with what we do offensively a lot of guys contributed. That was a huge key.”
Yeh finished with 22 points to pace White County, with 15 coming in the first half. Mulligan and Simpson each had 14 points but the pair combined for 19 of the Warriors’ 30 second half points.
Jewel Wilson was the catalyst early for the Seminoles. He was 4-of-6 from 3-point range in the first half and poured in 14 points before halftime. But he was held scoreless in the second half with the defensive switch and foul trouble.
Jeremiah Flournoy and Clark Martin each added 12 points for Salem.
NOTES: Something had to give Wednesday. White County came into the contest 9-1 at home, and having won 9 straight at the White County gym. ... Salem had been 7-1 on the road this season and had won 7 straight away from home, with its last road loss coming to No. 1 Sandy Creek on Dec. 7. ... The win for the Warriors was just their second-ever playoff win. They got their first in last year’s opening round but lost to Sandy Creek on the road. ... A win for the Warriors on Saturday would put them in the Elite 8 round for the first time in program history.
