CORNERSVILLE, Tenn. — The Raiders gave the Tigers all they wanted for three periods on Wednesday but a fourth period trey hot streak from Fayetteville’s Teondre Love helped lift the Tigers to a 55-45 victory and a trip to the District 9A Championship. game. The loss sends the Moore County boys to the District 9A Consolation Game against Huntland, which has been moved to Saturday at 2 p.m. due to Thursday’s threat of severe weather.

The Raiders shocked the #1 Tigers for three periods. Fayetteville may have been caught looking ahead. Neither of their regular season games with Moore County were particularly close. The Tigers beat the Raiders 69-36 in Lynchburg on January 13 in their first regular season matchup and again on January 31 in Fayetteville by a final score of 75-49.

Score tied at halftime

The Tigers outscored the Raiders in the first period. Alex Copeland scored the first points of the game with a shot off the backboard 40 seconds into the game. The Tigers missed their first shot and Will Baker rebounded. The two teams traded turnovers, and then Fayetteville’s Aljarea Johnson knocked down the first trey of the contest to give the Tigers a 3-2 lead. Baker and Peyton Martin scored the other two Raider baskets of the first period. At the end of the first eight minutes, Fayetteville led Moore County 11-6.

Moore County rallied in the second period – scoring 15 and holding the Tigers to 10. Alex Copeland repeated the same shot for the first points of the first for the first points of the second. The Tigers then bobbled their first possession with a travel. Will Baker took advantage and swished Moore County’s first trey of the game to tie the score, 11-11 at around the seven minute mark. The Tigers answered then Dawson sent up a perimeter shot that rolled in for three points to give the Raiders their first lead of the game.

The Tigers answered to regain the lead and then Moore County turned the ball over. Wes Clifton got the steal on the next Tiger possession and Alex Copeland swished a jumper from just outside the paint to tie the game. The Tigers answered with a trey to tie it up again at 16-16. The two teams traded turnovers and missed shots and then Alex Copeland drained his first trey of the game.

Peyton Martin blocked the next Tiger shot then Will Baker drove straight in for two points to build the Raider lead to five – prompting a quick time out from the Fayetteville coach much to the delight of the Raiders fans.

Fayetteville used consecutive scores by Love and Camaurionn Taylor to tie things back up, 21-21. The two teams went into the locker room knotted.

Moore used points by Alex Copeland, Dawson White, Will Baker, and Peyton Martin to pace the Tigers out of the break. At the end of the third period, the score remained knotted at 35-35.

The Tigers may have slept in the first three periods but they woke up in the fourth. Teondre Love made three 3-point shots and scored 12 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter to help the Tiger outlast the Raiders.

Alex Copeland led with 22 points

Alex Copeland led for Moore County with 22 points. Will Baker added 11 more and Dawson White scored eight. Peyton Martin battled inside for four points. Starter Keller Morey was not available for the game due to an injury suffered in the previous game against Cornersville. Teondre Love led for Fayetteville with 15 points.

Moore County scored 26 points from the floor and another 12 from the perimeter. They were seven of nine (78 percent) from the line. For comparison, Fayetteville scored 22 from the floor and 24 from the perimeter. They were nine of 17 (53 percent) from the line.

Moore County will move onto to a District 9A Consolation Game against Huntland on Saturday at 2 p.m. They will head into Class 1A West Regional Boys’ Tournament action next Saturday at 7 p.m. against the District 10A #1 seed, which will most likely be Richland (20-6, 9-1). •

{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.}