Pioneers on playoffs

bubble after loss
By Steve Behr
sports@wataugademocrat.com

TAYLORSVILLE — It seems that a different Alexander Central Cougar goes above and beyond the call of duty to beat Watauga.

This time, Jonathan Dockery was the thorn in the collective side of the Pioneers. True, Dockery scored a game-high 15 points in Alexander Central’s 61-48 victory over the Pioneers in the first round of the Northwestern 4-A Conference Tournament Tuesday.

Watauga (9-14) must wait until Saturday to learn if it will earn a wildcard berth into the state 4-A playoffs.

The Pioneers had to win the NWC Tournament to earn an automatic bid, which would have been the No. 2 seed.

Seeded sixth in the NWC standings, the Pioneers will still practice until they know for sure about next week.

“You have to play as if you’re in,” Pioneers coach Rob Sanders said. “We have (Wednesday) off and we’ll go back out Thursday and Friday. I’m sure we’ll be in front of a computer screen midday Saturday and be waiting like the college teams do and see if our name shows up in the brackets.”

Dockery’s defense, particularly on Watauga’s leading scorer Zach Greene, did the most damage. The Cougars used a box-and-one defense on Greene with Dockery providing the defense.

Greene, who hit seven 3-pointers against Alexander Central (17-7) the last time the teams played, settled for two treys and finished with six points.

“Dockery had a heck-of-a game,” Sanders said. “They kind of did to us what we did to them last time and what we tried to do tonight. They played a box-and-one and put Dockery on Zach and let him chase him around.”

“He’s a heck-of-an athlete and he frustrated Zach and made it hard for him to get any shots off,” Sanders added.

The Pioneers’ problem was no other Pioneer was able to give them a big lift offensively. Jeff Newell came off the bench to score a team-high 10 points, while Will Watson scored eight.

David Isaacs and Chad Eppley each had seven. Watauga’s guard nailed 16 3-pointers just a week earlier in an 83-71 loss to the Cougars, but settled for five treys Tuesday night.

Watauga abandoned its fast-paced offense mostly because Alexander Central’s front court players were getting too many layups when the Pioneers’ press had been broken. It worked to a degree. Alexander Central’s 6-foot-6 center Justin Mayberry, who scored 23 points last week, settled for 12 points Tuesday.

But Mayberry was one of four players who scored in double figures Tuesday. Daniel Rauscher, with help from three 3-point baskets, finished with 13 points. Point guard Ethan Ford added 10 points and 6-6 junior Ryan Hargrave, who scored 35 points in Alexander Central’s win over Watauga at Lentz-Eggers Gym in January, had nine points Tuesday.

“I thought we executed really well early,” Alexander Central coach Ed Wills said. “In the fourth quarter, we got good shots and when we got good shots, we were able to score.”

Even though Watauga’s defense was set up to limit easy baskets, it didn’t work in the beginning. Alexander Central came out sharp and took a 14-2 lead before an Eppley jump shot interrupted the Cougars’ 14-0 run.

After Alan Herndon gave the Pioneers a 2-0 lead with an inside basket, Watauga missed its next eight shots, while Alexander Central made six of its first seven attempts.

After outscoring Watauga 16-8 in the first quarter, the Cougars finished the second quarter with a 12-3 run and claimed a 31-15 halftime lead.

But the Pioneers made a run at the Cougars in the third quarter. Trailing 37-27, Watauga went on a 9-3 run to pull to within 40-36 heading into the fourth quarter. But the Cougars scored the first four points of the fourth quarter to go back up by eight. It was 48-41 when Alexander Central needed four critical points to take an 11-point lead with 3:14 left in the game to claim a 52-41 lead that the Pioneers could not overcome.

“I thought it was energy,” Sanders said of why Watauga launched a comeback. “We came out of the locker room to start the game and it was almost as if we didn’t know that we had to play to win this. Emotionally, our guys felt very good. We were confident that we would win this game. For some reason, it just seemed to us that we came out on the floor and expected them to lay down and die for us and we didn’t have to work for us. We did that in the third quarter.”

Alexander Central 61, Watauga 48
Watauga (9-15)
Watson 3 2-2 8, Greene 2 0-0 6, Isaacs 2 1-2 7, Newell 5 0-0 10, Eppley 2 3-5 7, Herndon 3 0-0 6, Dale 1 1-2 4, Chiarolanzio 0 0-0 0, Moyer 0 0-0 0. Totals 18 7-11 48.
Alexander Central (17-7)
Ferguson 1 0-0 2, Hargrave 3 2-4 9, Dockery 6 3-3 15, Rauscher 3 4-4 13, Ford 3 2-2 10, Mayberry 5 1-2 12, Fortner 0 0-0 0, Morris 0 0-0 0, Zeiger 0 0-0 0, Fisher 0 0-0 0, Mundy 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 12-15 61.
Watauga 8 7 21 12 — 48
Alexander Central 16 15 9 21 — 61
3-point goals—Watauga 5 (Greene 2, Isaacs 2, Dale), Alexander Central 7 (Rauscher 2, Ford 2, Mayberry, Hargrave). Turnovers—Watauga 8, Alexander Central 19. Total fouls—Watauga 16, Alexander Central 12. Fouled out—Eppley. Technical fouls—None.

NWC Tournament
Girls tournament
Monday’s games
South Caldwell 51, Watauga 37
Freedom 66, Alexander Central 58
East Burke 50, A.C. Reynolds 36
Wednesday’s games
Freedom 63, South Caldwell 47
McDowell 73, East Burke 61
Friday’s championship game at Freedom
McDowell vs. Freedom, 6:30 p.m.
Boys tournament
Tuesday’s games
Alexander Central 61, Watauga 48
Freedom 105, South Caldwell 60
McDowell 65, A.C. Reynolds 52
Thursday’s games
Alexander Central vs. East Burke
McDowell vs. Freedom
Friday’s championship game at Freedom
Thursday’s winners, 8 p.m.