Good Hope beats East Lawrence, advances to area finals:

Raiders and West Morgan to play for top spot in 4A, A 13:

GDW Analysis:
  TRINITY: Good Hope Raiders took care of business Saturday evening by romping past the East Lawrence Eagles 70 to 48 in the semifinals of the 4A, Area 13 tournament.
The Raiders were on the verge of sending a gift card to the Danville Hawks.
Danville gave a great effort vs. West Morgan in the other semifinal. But West Morgan pulled out a 71 to 68 victory in OT.
A three pointer by West Morgan right before regulation ended tied the score at 57 to 57. The Rebels won the game from the FT line with 3 attempts made in the final 7 seconds.
Good Hope started slow with East Lawrence. Drew Adams' Raiders were able to score 10 points in a row and moved in front 18 to 10 when time ran out in the 1st.
The Raiders broke the game open by a 27 point 2nd period, with Gavin Pace and Owen Armstrong combining for 8 points while Tucker Malin netted 5.
Good Hope was ahead 45 to 19 at the break.
Outscoring East Lawrence 18 to 9 in the 3rd allowed the Raiders to go up 63 to 28 and clear the bench for the 4th with a running clock.
East Lawrence had a 20 to 7 surge in the final 8:00.
Pace popped in 20 in the semifinal, Malin scored 13, Tyler Cone 9, Armstrong 8, Jacob Haynes and Kye McSwain 5, Dalton Patrick 4 with Isiah Turner and Tucker Keef scoring 2.
The Raiders have won 7 in a row and take a 22 & 6 record into Tuesday's championship vs. West Morgan at 6:00 p.m.
Danville carried a 39 to 38 lead into the 4th against West Morgan in the other semi.
The lead switched sides on the scoreboard 10 times in the final frame. Danville made a FT with 0:13 left to go up 57 to 54.
West Morgan got a Rebel open in the right corner who nailed a trey, tying the score and sending this encounter into OT.
The Rebels went up 66 to 61 with 1:16 to play in OT only to see Danville come back and get the game even at 68 to 68 with 0:24 remaining.
Two FTs by West Morgan put the Rebels back in the lead. A turnover by the Hawks allowed the Rebels to score another point from the line and survive a strong challenge from the 4th seed of the area.
West Morgan, with Bobby Meyer in his first season, is 14 & 8 on the season. The Rebels have a win against Good Hope in mid January in OT at home 87 to 82.

 

Photo of Good Hope Raider Tyler Cone from the Cullman County tournament January 25.
Photo courtesy of Martha Needham.