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Sylvania crowned county champs
By Kelly Bunch
The Weekly Post
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Published January 28, 2010
RAINSVILLE – After losing to Pisgah in the finals of the Sand Mountain Tournament and narrowly escaping the Plainview Bears in the quarterfinals of the DeKalb County Tournament, No. 2-seeded Sylvania felt as if they had something to prove.
The Rams (17-7) held off No. 1-seeded Fyffe (18-5) in the fourth quarter and went on to defeat the Red Devils 84-75 for the county championship.
This was the Rams first county championship since 1992.
A 59-49 win over six-time defending county champs Crossville, put Sylvania in the finals.
Fyffe however, came into the tournament red-hot, knocking off Valley Head 68-41 in the quarterfinals, then thumping Geraldine 71-41 in the semifinals; the Red Devils looked poised to win it all.
The tournament's Most Valuable Player, freshman Zach King, scored 12 of his game-high 31 points in the first quarter and Leighton Wright added eight to give the Rams a 24-20 edge at the end of the first.
With 1:05 left in the half, Fyffe took the lead 37-36 after a Josh Barksdale jumper. But that would be the last lead the Red Devils would enjoy for the remainder of the game. Before the half ended, Wright nailed a three-pointer to give Sylvania a 39-37 lead the half.
After a relatively quiet first half, Donovan Dalton began to heat up. Dalton’s two they's and King's eight points third quarter points helped the Rams push their lead to eight by the end of the period.
The two teams played even in the fourth, Dalton poured in 17 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter and the Rams, as a team, hit 14-of-18 from the charity stripe.
Fyffe,determined not to be embarrassed, made one last run in the fourth and got as close as 66-62 after a Ryan Tramel trey. Clutch free throw shooting down the stretch kept the Red Devils from closing the gap, however.
The Rams were 12-of-13 in the last 1:39 of the game.
Along with tournament MVP King, Wright and Dalton were all-tournament selections.
Donovan Dalton finished with 26 points and Wright closed with 17 and nine rebounds.
For Fyffe, all-tournament selections were Taylor Thrash, Jesse Martin and Jesse Townsel.
Thrash led Fyffe with 20 points, followed by Martin with 15 points and 22 rebounds Ryan Tramel closed with 14 and Jesse Townsel chipped in 10.
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