Running to title game

CHATSWORTH — Dalton High’s boys basketball team lost by 19 points to Carters-ville to open the season.

Apparently, the Catamounts have improved by 28 points.

With leading scorer Tristen Harrell limited by early foul trouble, Tre Beck and Alexis Bautista stepped up their offense and a defensive switch keyed an 18-2 Dalton run in the third quarter as the Cats beat the Purple Hurricanes 69-60 on Friday at Murray County’s Kenneth Ross Gymnasium. With the win, the Cats locked up home-court advantage for at least the first round of the Class 3A state tournament and a spot in tonight’s Region 7-3A championship game.

“I knew we had a run, but I didn’t know how big it was,” Dalton coach Mike Duffie said. “I remember that it was 53-22 at halftime of that first game with Cartersville. That just tells me all I need to know about my boys and how far they have come this season.”

Up next for Dalton will be seventh-ranked Allatoona, a 50-37 winner over LaFayette in the other boys semifinal. The Buccaneers and the Cats will play at 7:30 tonight.

In Friday’s other Region 7-3A action, Gilmer’s girls couldn’t pull off an upset for the second day in a row after knocking Dalton out of the postseason, falling to Cartersville 58-41. The Lady Purple Hurricanes will face Allatoona at 6 p.m. for the region title after the Lady Buccaneers beat Pickens 57-45 in the other semifinal. All of the teams in action on Friday were already guaranteed a spot in the state tournament next week, and today’s game will determine seeding for the region’s representatives in the 3A brackets.

Gilmer faces Pickens in the girls consolation game at 3 p.m., followed by LaFayette taking on Cartersville in the boys consolation game at 4:30.

Dalton’s boys trailed 35-30 Friday after a first half that was called tightly by the officials, giving Harrell his third foul with 6:00 left in the second quarter.

With both teams playing a man-to-man defense, the Canes had the answer in the first half.

But it was Dalton that had all of the answers in the third quarter. The Cats switched from a man to a match-up zone defense, and the Canes couldn’t find the range from the perimeter. With Dalton doubling down when Cartersville was able to get it into the paint, the Canes needed to a hit a few 3-pointers to loosen the Cats up.

That never happened.

“We wanted to play zone the entire game, but we felt like if we stayed in it all night, they would find the holes and get hot shooting the ball eventually,” Duffie said. “We felt like if we could play man in the first half and stay with them, it would let us throw it on them in the third.”

It worked to perfection, with Dalton getting steals and scoring in transition, and Cartersville missing from the perimeter. The Cats scored the first seven points of the second half, then went on an 11-0 run to go up 48-37.

“We didn’t shoot the ball well all night,” said Cartersville coach Dennis Godfrey, who formerly led the Cats. “It looked like we were never comfortable shooting the ball, and we didn’t make adjustments well. Dalton just outworked us tonight. Dalton deserved to win and did it with a great night from Tre Beck.”

Beck, who had 23 points against Cedartown in the region quarterfinals, had the same amount against the Canes to lead all scorers. After Beck’s transition basket to end the third quarter and a steal and a bucket to start the fourth, Dalton had a 52-39 lead, with Harrell having only scored five points.

In Harrell’s absence, Brandon Painter, a reserve who is usually counted on for rebounding and as a spot-up shooter, was forced to do much more.

“Give Brandon Painter a lot of credit,” Duffie said. “Early on, there were a lot of uncharacteristic fouls for playoff basketball, and it sure caused the coach to panic. The spotlight was on Brandon Painter. He had to log a lot of minutes tonight, and he just did a good job of playing. He didn’t have numbers that are going to pop out at you, but he went in there and did what we needed him to do.”

Bautista had another solid night both outside and inside for the Cats, hitting for 18 points. Harrell added points down the stretch as Dalton was able to spread the floor and kill some time with its dribble-penetration offense; he finished with 13.

Cartersville’s Ryan Davis and J.R. Davis scored 19 and 17 points, respectively, but the Canes couldn’t ever get closer than seven down the stretch, even though Dalton was just 2-for-8 from the free-throw line in the fourth.

Now, Dalton will face an Allatoona team that has lost just one Class 3A game this season. The Buccaneers are 23-4 and have been a fixture in the Ga.PrepCountry.com Class 3A coaches poll this season.

“Basically, we are playing for a (Class) 5A championship,” Duffie said. “Allatoona is a 5A-caliber team with 5A-caliber athletes. There are no holes in their game. It will be a huge challenge, and we will take our chances.”

• Allatoona boys 50, LaFayette 37: The Buccaneers, the top-seeded team from Sub-region 7B-3A, had double-digit nights from Dimychael Ross and Daniel Fowler as both teams suffered through a rough shooting night.

Ross finished with 15 and Fowler added 11, while LaFayette (19-5) was led by Garrod Beamon’s 13 points.

• Cartersville girls 58, Gilmer 41: The Lady Purple Hurricanes turned a five-point lead going into the fourth quarter into a rout, rolling past Gilmer to the title game.

Sophomore Kaelyn Irby led the way for Cartersville (21-5) with 20 points, but she had plenty of help as Adriene Green added 17 and Kea Garnigan finished with 11. Gilmer (18-10) was led by Jenna Parks, who finished with 11.

• Allatoona girls 57, Pickens 45: The Lady Buccaneers got a game-high 27 points from Elise Spann and were never threatened in the win over the Lady Dragons (19-9). Sarah Smith led Pickens with 13 points.

Allatoona (23-4) is ranked No. 8 in the state.

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