Overtime thriller sent Bulldogs south for Sweet 16

CHATTANOOGA-The Clay County Bulldogs were on the brink of returning to the State Tournament for the first time since they went seven out of eight years from 2015-2022 when they tipped off here against Chattanooga Prep Monday night after HORIZON press time.

Though their season wrapped up just a game shy of the Elite Eight with a loss to the Sentinels (details in next week’s paper), head coach Rob Edwards’ team finished among the best when they stood tall as one of only 16 teams left standing.

After coming from behind to eliminate Jo Byrns 64-57 last week in the region semifinals at Livingston Academy and barely missing out on a Region 4-A Championship with a 65-64 overtime loss to rival Pickett County, the Dawgs ended up having to travel here to face the defending Class A State Champions.

4-A Semis

They got their Sweet 16 chance by rallying from a 13-point deficit to beat District 8-A Champion Jo Byrns (20-7) by a score of 64-57, behind four Dawgs scoring double figures.

Junior Nolan Adams led the way with 19 points, senior Lance Burchett scored 16, senior Nate Adams dropped 14, and junior Cole Eads added 11 in the victory.

The Red Devils got off to a fast start and led 16-9 at the end of the first quarter, before claiming their largest lead of 26-13 midway through the second stanza.

That’s when Nate Adams scored his first bucket of the night and his brother Nolan ripped off a 10-0 personal run to pull his team within one at the break.

Nolan turned up the defensive pressure, which resulted in multiple steals leading to points.  When the halftime buzzer sounded he had cut the Jo Byrns’ advantage to 26-25 at intermission.

Clay County then returned to the floor to extend their unanswered scoring streak to 21-0, which helped them go up by as many as 10 three times in the third quarter.

Nate Adams and Burchett each had eight in the period, which ended with the Dawgs ahead 48-42.

Jo Byrns kept coming in the fourth quarter and narrowed the Clay County margin to 58-57 with two minutes to play, before Nate Adams and Eads went a perfect six for six from the free throw line down the stretch to seal the seven-point victory.

4-A Finals

The semifinal win over the Red Devils not only secured a sectional berth for the Dawgs, but it also set up another showdown with District 7-A rival Pickett County, who had beaten Clay County three times already this season.

In all of those games, the Bobcats had created separation early and ran away with decisive victories.

This time the Dawgs kept it close in the first half and used a fourth-quarter surge to give themselves a chance to win.

Pickett County led 20-17 at the end of the first quarter and 32-28 at intermission.

Then, with Clay County battling foul trouble, they tried to pull away again.

And they did, but the Dawgs came roaring back.

Down 11 points midway through the fourth quarter, Burchett, who scored 17 points in the contest, buried a three-pointer to spark a Clay County 8-0 run, which pulled them within three points of the Bobcats.

Nate Adams, who led his team with 22 points, scored the other five in the spurt to make it 55-52.

Nolan Adams then exited the game with his fifth foul shortly after, and Pickett went back up by five points with a little over a minute to play.

That’s when Burchett and Nate Adams scored six-straight points to put Clay County up 58-57, before the Bobcats tied it with a free throw with 15.8 seconds remaining.

The Dawgs called a timeout with 8.9 seconds to play and had a chance to win it in regulation, but it wasn’t meant to be and the game went into overtime.

There both Nate and senior starter Hayden Adams also fouled out, and Pickett went up by three points on resulting free throws, before a last-second missed three-pointer to tie the game caromed off into the hands of sophomore Jake Copeland and he put it back as time expired to account for the final one-point Bobcat margin.

Nate and Nolan Adams, and Burchett were named to the Region 4-A All-Tournament Team following the conclusion of the game.

BOX SCORES

March 4th

4-A Semis

Bulldogs:

9, 16, 23, 16—64

Jo Byrns:

16, 10, 18, 13—57

DAWGS (64)-Nolan Adams 19, Lance Burchett 16, Nate Adams 14, Cole Eads 11, Hayden Adams 4.

March 6th

4-A Finals

Bulldogs:

17, 11, 13, 17, 6—64

Pickett County:

20, 12, 17, 9, 7—65

DAWGS (64)-Nate Adams 22, Lance Burchett 17, Cole Eads 11, Nolan Adams 8, Hayden Adams 4, Jake Copeland 2.