Tattnall stays undefeated in region, beats Stratford 55-38

The Tattnall Trojans strengthened their grip on their region Tuesday night, defeating Stratford 55-38 at home behind 21 points from Whit Davidson and another sterling defensive effort.

The Trojans improved to 10-7 overall and, crucially, 5-0 against GIAA Class 4A/3A District 6 opponents. The win concluded the region’s first rotation of play — Tattnall has now played and beaten every team in its region to take a commanding position atop the standings.

“It feels great to be 5-0, but it puts a target on your back,” Tattnall head coach Christian Palmer said. “It’s a big win, we love to take care of the game against Stratford. What we’ve kinda fallen on all year is getting after it defensively. We were solid tonight, but now there’s a lot we can work on so we can be playing our best for the region tournament.”

Davidson, the lengthiest player on the floor at 6-foot-6, proved lethal from midrange and underneath the basket. As one of the only returning starters from last season’s squad — the Trojans went 10-0 in the region and made the GIAA state tournament semifinals last year in one of the best Tattnall seasons in the past decade — Davidson is a key leader.

“Whit played really well for us down the stretch, he’s been a leader all year for us,” Palmer said. “We play a lot better with him in there.”

Sophomore Micah Clyde also pitched in 13 points and made some solid defensive plays. Evan Boney netted 11 points for the Trojans, including six in the fourth quarter.

“(Clyde) finished the game really well. He had some spurts in the game where he made some sophomore mistakes, but I was proud of him for locking in and finishing the game the right way,” Palmer said. “Ben Brown played well … it was a great group win for us.”

The Trojans not only lost key scorers like Antone Johnson and Drew Bacchus after last season, they lost head coach Matt Chambless, who departed at the end of the school year.

Needless to say, Palmer had his work cut out for him. But the young coach who came to Trojan Trail from Piedmont Academy bounced back from a 5-6 start to reel off five consecutive region wins, including a victory over his former team.

“We went through a stretch where we lost five games in a row, and Whit was hurt during that,” Palmer said. “That was really great for our team. It gave us a lot of opportunities for guys who hadn’t played a whole lot to get more experience. We learned a lot about ourselves during that stretch.”

For Stratford, the loss was a bit of a return to form after a much-needed win over Mount de Sales last week. The young Eagles team struggled to break through Tattnall’s tough defense and fell to 7-9 overall and 1-4 in District 6 play as a result of the poor scoring effort.

“We are who we are this year. Our guys are learning on the job a little bit right now. My biggest thing is being consistent and battling, and we did that tonight,” Stratford head coach Jarvis Smith said. “We’ve struggled to score if Landon Gates is not shooting the ball very well from start to finish.”

Gates, Stratford’s most important shooter this season and typically their leading scorer, made noise in the first half with 11 points but did not score in the second half. Fletcher Almand followed with eight points.

Stratford’s struggles showed early, as Tattnall leapt out to a 13-2 lead within the first five minutes of the game and eventually going up 17-4 until a halfcourt heave from Stratford’s Landon Gates helped cut it to a 17-7 margin going into the second quarter.

Gates’ first half efforts helped the Eagles dig out of the hole a bit and make it 26-19 going into the break.

Things kept improving for Stratford early in the third quarter, particularly in the post with Almand and John Henry Causey. At one point, the Eagles were within four points with a 30-26 score.

“One thing I am pleased with was our inside presence with (Almand and Causey). We depend on those guys a little bit, and they performed well for us offensively and defensively in the middle,” Smith said. “I said it was a Fletcher Almand type of night, and he did a great job for us.”

Things dried up from there, however. The Tattnall squad found its footing and got timely buckets from Boney and Champ Castlin, another younger player that Palmer commended for stepping up this season, to put the lead back around 10 for most of the night.

To put the nail in the coffin, the Trojans held Stratford to a scoring drought for about the last 2:30 of game time while scoring an extra eight points — including some on 3-point plays from Boney and Davidson that got a rise out of the Tattnall home crowd — to put an exclamation point on the win.

It was the fourth game out of five region contests in which Tattnall held its opponent under 40 points. Stratford has not reached the 50-point threshold since its Jan. 6 game against John Milledge.

With five games left on the schedule for both squads, Smith and Palmer both acknowledged that there’s plenty of time for teams to get hot before the District 6 region tournament.

“I still think that when that tournament starts, it’s anybody’s region. There’s probably four teams with a chance of winning the region. Tattnall has the advantage, they’re playing their best ball at this moment and they host the tournament, but we’re trying to keep up right now.”

Tattnall is set to face Piedmont Academy again Friday, while Stratford is scheduled to take on John Milledge.