CORNERSVILLE, Tenn. — Cinderella will get one more dance. On Tuesday, the Moore County Raiders edged the Wayne County Wildcats by a final score of 56-49 to survive and advance in the TSSAA Class 1A West Regional Basketball Tournament.
Moore County got the upset win against Santa Fe last Saturday to advance to the Regional Semifinal game. {Click here to read our complete coverage of that game.} They will now face off with Fayetteville in the Regional Finals on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Cornersville High School. The win against Wayne County guarantees the Raiders a spot in a Sectional Game on Monday, March 6.
Game with over two dozen lead changes
Wildcats edge Raiders by one point in first period. The first period felt like a punch, counter-punch heavyweight match with close to a dozen lead changes. The score was knotted at seven with 2:44 to play in the period when Raider Alex Copeland swished a trey to pull Moore County ahead. Cooper Shamer answered with a pair from the free throw line then Landyne Prater got a trey to pull the Wildcats ahead by two. Dawson White then drained a trey to give Moore County back the lead. With less than a minute to play in the first, the Wildcats scored underneath to give them the narrow 14-13 lead at the end of the period.
Dawson White hits free throw to pull Raiders ahead by one at the half. The trend continued in the second period with seven lead changes and the two teams tied three different times. Peyton Martin, Keller Morey, and ALex Copeland all scored points to help pace the Wildcats then with 18 seconds remaining Dawson White drew a foul and hit one of his two from the line to give Moore County the 26-25 halftime lead.
Alex Copeland and Dawson White scored seven each in the first half followed by Keller Morey with six. Will Baker added four more and Peyton Martin scored a basket.
Peyton Martin gets a basket and one to give the Raiders the third period lead. The Raiders discovered a never-fails play in the third and they went to it repeatedly. Post Peyton Martin would lurk just outside the lane, get a pass, fake the shot, and then shoot – often drawing an and one foul. Martin scored seven in the third including two baskets and three from the line. Wes Clifton added a trey. Both Dawson White and Will Baker added baskets and multiple shots from the line to help the Raiders regain the lead heading into the final period, 36-35
Raiders hit eight from the line in the fourth to seal the win. Wes Clifton swished a trey to get the fourth period started then the Wildcats scored back-to-back to tie the game at 39-39. Peyton Martin got another basket and one play to give Moore County back the lead. Then, Will Baker rebounded drove down, missed the basket, and shot again for two put-back points to build the Moore County lead to five. Dawson White then hit a jumper to build it to seven. At around the two minute mark, Moore County got in the bonus and eight of their 10 points down the stretch were from the line. At the final buzzer, Moore County punched their ticket to a substate with a 56-49 win over Wayne County.
Senior Will Baker led with 16 points
Senior Will Baker fought for rebound after rebound and led for Moore County with 16 points. Many of those were put-back baskets. Peyton Martin muscled for baskets underneath for 13 points. Dawson White scored double digits as well with 11 points including two treys in the first period. Other contributing Raiders were Alex Copeland (7), Keller Morey (6), and Wes Clifton (3).
You can watch the Region 5A Championship game against Fayetteville live on the NFHS Network or we’ll give live score updates throughout the game on The Lynchburg Times Facebook page. •
{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.}