GIAA boys region tournament: Mount de Sales upsets No. 1 Tattnall, will face Stratford in final

When it counted the most this season, so far, Mount de Sales followed the plan quite well. Tattnall did pretty much the same thing.

But the Cavaliers had a better night shooting, from the floor and line, and upset the top-seeded Trojans 69-60 Thursday night in the GIAA District 6-4A/3A semifinals at FPD.

Mount de Sales faces Stratford in its first region title game under Taylor, in his fourth season, Friday at 8:30 p.m. Stratford won 60-39 and 65-54 in their two regular season meetings.

Mount de Sales improved to 16-10 while Tattnall fell to 20-4, ending a six-game Trojan winning streak.

Tattnall won both regular season games against the Cavaliers, one 66-64 on Jan. 14 and the other 68-52 two weeks later.

The Cavs played with the confidence of the team that lost by two.

“I think we played well for most of the game,” Mount de Sales head coach Deion Taylor said. “Our focus has been the same it’s been all season: limit turnovers and hold teams to one possession.

“(Tattnall) is a really big team, good size. In the past, they have killed us getting turnovers and scoring in transition, killed us on the offensive glass. That was our focus, being able to get up more shots, more opportunities. It put us in a good position.”

Mount de Sales led 16-11 after one, getting a three with 1.3 seconds left on Zavion DeShazier’s runner and free throw. The Trojans countered with a 10-3 run — all from Ty Hunnicutt and Antone Johnson — for a 25-19 lead less than two minutes into the second quarter.

The Cavs battled back only for Tattnall to go on a 9-0 surge and take a 33-24 lead with 11 seconds left in the half, but DeShazier gave the Cavs momentum by drilling a 25-footer to end the first half and get his team within 33-27.

An 8-0 start to the third put Mount de Sales on top, and the lead eventually grew to five. But Drew Bacchus’ tip-in knotted it up at 42, sending the two teams into the fourth tied at 47.

Both teams battled foul trouble, the Trojans’ William Stuart getting there early, limiting his minutes in the second half and leading to a scoreless night.

“We were hampered with fouls,” Tattnall head coach Matt Chambless said. “We tried to get guys to play without fouling, and they kept sticking their hand in the cookie jar and putting themselves in dicey situations.

“We play best when our bigs are on the floor, but (Stuart) was on the bench most of the night. I think he played about a minute at a time.”

Mount de Sales faced the same problem.

“They were in foul trouble too,” Chambless said. “There were fouls all around. They made their shots and we missed ours.”

Mount de Sales finished 14 of 21 at the line. Tattnall went 13 of 26.

The Cavs took advantage of the situation more, but it was a three from Abner Livingston that put them up 54-49 at the 5:13 mark of the fourth, although Antone Johnson answered.

The margin was 59-54 when Jackson Rowley scored low after having to make a huge stretch to catch a high pass. Caleb Linder then drove and put in a backspinning runner. He missed the free throw, but the Cavalier lead was 63-54 with 1:37 left.

Mount de Sales went 6 of 8 from the line in the final minute, while Tattnall was 4 for 12 in the second half. The Cavs hit 11 3-pointers to six for Tattnall.

“They have four guys that shoot above 30% (on threes),” Chambless said. “They have good shooters. We had multiple defenses that we were going to come in with. To their credit, they hit threes against all of ‘em.”

Rowley had 19 for Mount de Sales, with 18 from DeShazier and Livingston. Hunnicutt’s 25 points led all scorers, with Johnson adding 22.

“In the past couple games, that’s something that I’ve preached to them, being able to close out games when you do have an advantage, not giving guys opportunities to get back in it, creep back in the game,” Taylor said. “Not turn the ball over, being able to knock down our free throws.

“I think we did a really good job of that in the fourth quarter.”

Stratford 50, John Milledge 38

It took awhile for Stratford to get going — more than a quarter, in fact. 

Unfortunately for John Milledge, it took them even longer to find a spark.

The No. 2-seed Eagles (20-6) took control in the second quarter and maintained it virtually the rest of the way to earn a spot in the region championship yet again with a 50-38 win over the No. 3 seed.

The Eagles will take on Mount de Sales at 8:30 p.m. on Friday.

As is often the case, Frankie Raines Jr. sparked Stratford with the first bucket of an 11-0 run that led to a 24-15 halftime lead.

John Milledge (9-13) made a run in the third quarter, outscoring the Eagles by two, but Stratford rode Tyler Stephens back to control. The guard put up 10 points in the fourth quarter en route to a team-high 18 points.

Raines added 12 after a scoreless first quarter. Justin England led John Milledge with 11.