The Independence High School Eagles captured the Region 5-4A championship with a 47-33 victory over the Centennial High School Cougars Thursday night.
Centennial (17-15), who defeated Franklin in the region semifinals, trailed by just four at halftime and outscored the Eagles 7-1 to take a 23-21 lead at the beginning of the third quarter. Independence, however, went on an 11-0 run and finished the quarter up, 32-23.
Eagles head coach Mark Wilkins raved about the team playing tough defense down the stretch to put Independence just one win away from the state tournament for the third consecutive year and a chance for back-to-back state titles.
“It was back-and-forth there for a little bit,” Wilkin said. “The guys kept defending really well; we got some stops there in the third quarter, that gave us a little bit of a cushion.”
Wilkins also gave a lot of credit to Centennial.
“But they are a really good team, they battled back, coach [Jeremy] Moore does a really good job, so we knew it was going to be a fight all night long.”
Senior guard and Abilene Christian University signee Tylan Lewis led the way with 16 points and helped hold Centennial’s all-district performer Daniel Patton to just seven points and saddled him with foul trouble for much of the second half. Patton and Lewis both received all-region tournament honors after the game. Lewis earned the tournament MVP.
Wilkins praised Lewis’s leadership and defensive prowess throughout the season, especially during this postseason run.
“He’s has been our leader all year,” Wilkins said. “He is a great defender. He probably led us in scoring tonight, hit some big shots and hit him some big free throws. I am so proud of him. He is such a winner. We are just so thankful to have him, and we are going to follow his lead.”
Lewis got a lot of help from his backcourt mate Dawsyn Miller. Miller scored 11 points and joined Lewis on the all-tournament team.
“He is shooting the ball really well,” Wilkins said. “It kind of got him on the floor last year for us. His defense kept them on the floor last year; he is playing great defense for us again this year. We have to have him.”
Centennial failed to find an answer for Independence after the third-quarter run. Ryland McKelvy led the Cougars with 10 points. Carter Ezell added seven.
The Cougars will look to bounce back when they face a tough senior-laden Hillsboro team on Monday at 7 p.m.
Indy will host Beech High School and its big post star, junior Cutter Sisk.
“We are just taking it one day at a time, one practice at a time,” Wilkins said about this postseason run. "We know we have got our hands full with Beech on Monday. They have got seniors. They are going to want to win; we are going to have to get better and practice hard. Hopefully we can take care of it at home.”
The Independence head coach gave a bit of a scouting report on the Buccaneers’ big man.
"He’s very big and strong; he can shoot it and finish with either hand,” Wilkins said. “We have got our work cut out for us.”
The Buccaneers defeated Hillsboro 51-38 to advance to the sectionals on Monday.
The Williamson County girls’ teams failed to make it to the regional final with Page and Brentwood High School losing to Coffee County (62-44) and Lincoln County (51-35), respectively, in the semifinal round.
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