CORNERSVILLE, Tenn. — The Cardiac Kids did it again. Raiders senior Will Baker hit a 3-point shot with 2.4 seconds remaining on Monday to lift Moore County to a 52-49 victory over Cornersville and a spot as the number four seed in the District 9A tournament. They’ll play number one seed Fayetteville on February 15 at Cornersville High School.

Moore County travelled to Cornersville on Monday night for a District 9A play in game with the Bulldogs. The two teams split their regular season games. Moore County won the first match up on January 20 by a final score of 57-40. The Bulldogs narrowly defeated the Raiders 43-40 at home last Tuesday.

Tied at the end of the first half

The Raiders and the Bulldogs played a pretty even first half. They were knotted at the end of the first period and remained knotted at halftime. On the Moore County side it was the Alex Copeland, Dawson White, and Will Baker show. The three combined for all 20 of Moore County’s first half points. Noticeably quiet was Cornersville’s big post player, Kel Ford, who scored 31 of the Bulldog’s 43 in their February 7 game in Lynchburg. The Raider defense held him to just two first period points and four points in the second period. Moore County and Cornersville headed to the locker room tied 20-20 at halftime.

Baker hit trey with 2.4 seconds remaining to seal the win

That trend continued in the third period. Moore County held Ford to no third period points while using points by Keller Morey, Alex Copeland, and Will Baker to pace the Bulldogs. The two teams were tied 31-31 with a little over a minute to play in the third. Then, Raider point guard Dawson White stood at the top of the key dribbling without challenge from the Bulldog’s soft zone defense for much of that minute before eventually dishing to Keller Morey, who went inside for two –drawing the foul. He hit both from the line to give Moore County a narrow two-point lead at the end of the third, 33-31.

Moore County used hot 3-point shooting in the fourth to gain the win. Keller Morey swished two treys. Dawson White added another and Will Baker swished two 3-point shots including the game-winning trey with 2.4 seconds left on the clock. The final scored was Moore County 52, Cornersville 49.

Copeland, Morey, and White all scored double-digits

Alex Copeland led for the Raiders with 16 points followed by Keller Morey with 15. Will Baker scored 12 and Dawson White added nine more. Kel Ford led for the Bulldogs with 14 points. Moore County scored 26 from the floor and another 21 from the perimeter as compared to the Bulldogs with 26 from the floor and just 15 from the perimeter. The Raiders were five of nine (56 percent) and the Bulldogs were eight of 13 (62 percent) from the line.

The #4 Raiders will now face the #1 Fayetteville Tigers on Wednesday at District 9A Tournament host Cornersville High School. Tip off will take place at 6 p.m. The winner will move on to the championship game. •

{The Lynchburg Times is an independently-owned, community newspaper located in Lynchburg, Tennessee the home of The Jack Daniel Distillery. We focus on public service, non-partisan, rural journalism. We cover the Metro Moore County government, local tourism, Moore County schools, high school sports, Motlow State Community College, as well as whiskey industry news and regional and state stories that affect our readers.}