CLASS 5A AREA 4 FINAL: Tallassee comeback worth every penny

By GRAHAM DUNN

TALLASSEE – The Tallassee Tigers’ come-from-behind win over Brewbaker Tech in the Class 5A, Area 4 tournament final was one for the ages on Thursday.

So much that Coach Keiven Mixon was ready to charge fans in attendance more than the $6 paid at the door of Stumberg Gymnasium.

“I figure that one was worth at least $20,” Mixon said with a grin.

The Tigers certainly gave the home crowd its money’s worth as well as something to celebrate, earning a 44-41 win over the Rams to clinch the area tournament and guarantee a home appearance next Tuesday in the Southeast Subregionals.

“This is a senior group so they should be prepared for a game like this,” Mixon said. “But I apparently need to learn more. I didn’t think we could use the press and win against Brewbaker Tech. My guys proved me wrong.”

After a back-and-forth first half that saw the two teams exchange the lead four times, the Rams opened up a 10-point advantage with 6:17 left in the game, mostly on the 3-point shooting of Kevin Carter, who drained two shots behind the arc and added two free throws in less than a minute to give Brew Tech its largest lead of the night.

Brew Tech had spent most of the evening denying Tallassee center Tyrek Turner any room to work inside the paint. He was limited to just four points in the game, this after he had scored his 1,000th career point in the win over Beauregard on Thursday.

“I had some success against them in the two previous games so they weren’t going to let me get the ball,” Turner said. “They double-teamed me all night and made it hard to move around.”

Mixon moved his offense to the perimeter and put his guards in charge of driving to the basket.

On the other end, Tallassee employed full-court pressure, something Mixon didn’t expect to work against the Rams’ talented guards.

“Obviously I didn’t think we could forced turnovers, so my guys surprised me,” he said. “Maybe we surprised them. But it turned out to be a big difference in the game.”

With the combination of Truck Griffin, Jamicah Humphery and Jayln Daniels, Tallassee harassed the Brew Tech guards into turnovers that allowed the Tigers to eliminate the deficit and tie the game with a Griffin free throw with 38 seconds remaining in the game.

Tallassee forced two more turnovers that included a steal by Daniels leading to a layup with 14 seconds left to give the Tigers the lead, 43-41.

With four seconds remaining, Griffin added another free throw for the final margin, that also came after another Brew Tech turnover.

“Coach got in our face and said get it done,” Humphery said. “Whatever we needed to do, go out and do it. That’s what we tried to do.

“That’s what we did.”

The win allowed Tallassee (25-5) to extend its home winning streak to 25 games and give the Tigers a home date on Tuesday against Charles Henderson.

Two years ago, they had a shot at earning what would be their first-ever trip to the regional tournament, only to lose to Sipsey Valley in the sub-regional.

Last year, Charles Henderson eliminated the Tigers in the sub-regional with the game played in Troy.

“We’ll celebrate this tonight but we’ll be ready for Tuesday,” Turner said. “We remember that night and I expect we will talk about it later this week.”

Griffin finished with 14 points to lead all scorers. Humphrey added 12 points. Carter led the Rams with 12 points.

Brew Tech (18-10) will travel to Greenville for the Southeast Sub-Regional on Tuesday.