Let’s start off by saying this, they did it again. The UHA Blazers were down at the half Saturday night, and struggling to contain Shelby Valley’s Cody Potter. The Blazers needed a 3rd quarter rally like they got Friday night in coming from behind to beat Newport. And you know what, it happened again.
After trailing by as many as 16 points in the first half, UHA rallied to take down Shelby Valley and advance on to the championship game of the 2019 All A Classic. But, in the first half of this one, it looked like a trip to the final might be in jeopardy.
The Blazers got off to a pretty good start in this one. Three’s by Drew McGowan and Taquan Hollowell, and a basket by KyKy Tandy had the Blazers up 8-5 early in the first quarter. Then UHA got the chance to meet Cody Potter up close and personal.
Shelby Valley began to run Potter off screens in an effort to get the shooting phenom some looks at the basket, and he made it pay off. Potter scored 11 points over the rest of the quarter, including drilling three long 3-point shots. Shelby Valley outscored UHA 15-5 the rest of the quarter to take a 20-13 lead.
By himself, Potter scored the first 8 points of the second quarter, with those points being part of an overall 11-2 run that saw Shelby Valley blow out to a 31-15 lead. The Blazers were having trouble finding a solution to Potter’s outside shooting, while baskets were not falling at their own end, which started to feel like a very bad combination.
When Potter hit another three with two minutes to go in the half, UHA was down 38-22 and trying to stop the onslaught. The final 1:40 of the half would turn out to be critical for UHA. The Blazers closed the half on a short 6-0 run on two baskets by Will Bryan and one by DJ Quarles to trim the lead to 38-28. It was still a double digit lead, but you could start to feel something brewing.
There was one big defensive adjustment made by Coach Grant Shouse that helped set up a big third quarter. Shouse made the decision to guard Cody Potter with Drew McGowan, and Potter’s night was never the same. Potter would go the entire second half without a field score and score only three points on free throws after he was fouled during a 3-point attempt. With Potter locked down, Shelby Valley lost their rhythm and the lead.
Behind a big quarter from KyKy Tandy, the Blazers outscored Shelby Valley 14-6 in the third quarter to cut the lead to 44-42 heading into the final eight minutes.
With UHA playing lockdown defense and Shelby Valley trying to find their offense, the pace of the game slowed down at tensions built across the arena. Over the end of the 3rd quarter and the beginning of the 4th quarter, the Blazers had multiple chances to tie or take the lead. However, shots would not fall, either from the field or at the line.
Finally, KyKy Tandy scored with 4:30 to go in the game to put UHA up 45-44. A basket by DJ Quarles made it 47-44. Potter scored his only points of the half for Shelby Valley from the free throw line with 3:02 to tie the game at 47-47. Those would be the last points they would score until the game was well decided.
Will Bryan made the play of the night, driving the baseline, going up and under for an old fashioned 3-point play to give UHA a 50-47 lead. Aftet the Blazers had missed 4 in a row at the line at one point, Tandy, McGowan, and Quarles went 9 of 10 at the line down the stretch to seal the 10 point win.
KyKy Tandy led the attack for UHA with 23 points and 7 rebounds. Will Bryan had 11 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals. Drew McGowan added 11 points and 6 rebounds, in addition to his crucial defensive minutes guarding Potter. Taquan Hollowell and DJ Quarles had 7 points each.
Cody Potter had 25 points and 8 rebounds for Shelby Valley, with 22 of those points coming in the first half.
UHA improves to 20-3 on the season and advances to the All A championship game for the first time since 2008, when they won the All A title. The Blazers will take on Lexington Christian. LCA knocked the Blazers out of the tournament in the opening round last year, and handed the Blazers their first loss of the season during the King of the Bluegrass. LCA is led by Liberty University signee, Kyle Rode.
Tipoff time is 2:00pm ET Sunday at McBrayer Arena.
