COLONY — Little River’s defense made for some big trouble for Crest High’s Lancers Monday.
A 15-5 Little River run spanning the second quarter allowed the visiting Redskins to take the lead for good in the Class 1A-II Substate Tournament semifinals.
Crest rallied down the stretch, but could draw no closer than seven in a 48-39 setback.
The loss ends Crest’s season at 15-5. Little River (14-6) advances to Saturday’s championship game to take on Oxford, a 55-37 winner over Sedan.
“That’s a physical, athletic team,” Crest head coach Dakotah Sporing said of Little River. “I told our guys, if we could handle that, I like our chances.
“There were times we handled it, and it looked good,” he continued. “Whether the ball went in or not, we executed and got good looks. We gave ourselves a chance. But there were times when we got sped up, and they hurt us with it.”
Crest freshman Kole Walter was the Lancers’ early catalyst. He connected on three 3-pointers in the first quarter as Crest held leads of 11-6 and 14-10.
But Little River rattled off a 13-0 run to take the lead for good.
Crest’s Jacob Zimmerman ended Crest’s 3 ½-minute scoring drought before Walter hit from downtown once again to pull the Lancers within 24-19.
Gentry McGhee gave the Lancers a lift to start the second half with a free throw and field goal, keeping it a five-point game at 29-24.
But the Redskins ended the period with an 11-2 run to stretch the lead to double digits.
The Lancers didn’t go away quietly, although a pair of early misses inside in the fourth quarter, and an 0-4 stretch from the free throw line stalled the rally a bit.
Zimmerman hit a jumper bedford Prasko’s steal and layup pulled the Lancers to within 44-33. Denton Ramsey followed with a 3-pointer, and McGhee’s layup with just over a minute left kept Crest within 46-38.
“A little bit of desperation kicked in,” Sporing said. “We started making some plays, putting in extra effort inside. That helped.”
But Little River still effectively moved the ball around to milk the clock, hitting 4 of 6 free throws to seal the win.
