CEDARVILLE -- Haas Hall made the most of second chances Friday night.
Haas Hall had 12 second-chance points the first three quarters and the Mastiffs then pulled away from Cedarville in the fourth quarter to post a 51-29 victory in the semifinals at the 3A-1 District Tournament.
3A-1 West Conference
At Cedarville
Wednesday
Girls
Game 1: Mansfield 55, Haas Hall 40
Boys
Game 1: Cedarville 47, Elkins 43
Thursday
Girls
Game 2: West Fork 54, Mansfield 30
Game 3: Elkins 36, Lavaca 33
Boys
Game 2: Cedarville 79, Mansfield 64
Game 3: Lavaca 52, Greenland 50
Friday
Girls
Game 4: Cedarville 36, West Fork 34
Game 5: Greenland 59, Elkins 47
Boys
Game 4: Haas Hall 51, Cedarville 29
Game 5: West Fork 62, Lavaca 54
Today
Game 6: Cedarville vs. Greenland, 6 p.m.
Game 6: Haas Hall vs. West Fork, 7:30 p.m.
3A-1 District Tournament
Semifinals
Boys
Haas Hall 51, Cedarville 29
Haas Hall^8^12^15^16^ — 51
Cedarville^7^7^11^4^ — 29
Haas Hall (17-13): Maddock 15, Reber 13, Browne 8, Kisor 6, Torbert 6, Moye 2, Bray 1.
Cedarville (7-22): Hernandez 11, Miller 7, J. Shelley 6, T. Shelley 3, Harmon 1.
Haas Hall, which is in its fourth year playing basketball, will play in its first ever district championship game tonight when they play either West Fork or Lavaca at 7:30 p.m.
Haas Hall (17-13) had already secured a berth to the regional tournament by finishing second in the league during the regular season. The regional berth is another first for the boys basketball program.
"We have three seniors in our top five and they have really worked hard," said Haas Hall coach Basil Seymour-Davis. "We won a lot of close games to get here."
Caleb Maddock led Haas Hall with 15 points while Lemmel Reber added 13. Haas Hall led 30-22 late in the third period but Reber and Matthew Kisor had stickbacks the final minute to give the Mastiffs a 35-23 lead. Haas Hall then made 12 of 17 free throws in the fourth quarter to pull away.
"Our height advantage paid off for us," Seymour-Davis said. "We had to fight really, really hard for those, and the stickbacks were not guaranteed. We were fortunate enough to have a rebounding advantage. We also love seeing that scoring balance."
Cedarville, which will be playing in the regional tournament for the seventh-straight year, was playing its third game in as many days and it showed in the second half. The Pirates trailed 20-14 at halftime but were out scored 31-15 in the second half.
Abraham Hernandez led the Pirates with 11 points while Beau Miller added seven.
"We had been shooting the ball well that last few games and the first thing to go is your legs," said Cedarville coach Andrew Tencleve. "After your legs go, your shot goes. We kept fighting, but the shots never fell and it was over in the fourth quarter. Their offensive rebounding also killed us."
Seymour-Davis said having a bye to the semifinals was an advantage.
"The advantage of being a second seed is having so much rest," Seymour-Davis said. "I think playing for the third-straight day caught up with Cedarville in the second half. They started making a few more errors."
West Fork 62, Lavaca 54
West Fork (18-8) advanced to the boys championship game with a victory against Lavaca. The Tigers will face Haas Hall in the finals tonight at 7:30 p.m. West Fork has defeated Lavaca four times this season.
Girls
Greenland 59, Elkins 47
Greenland (25-2) used a 20-3 run the last five minutes of the third quarter break open a close game to defeat Elkins (16-13) in the semifinals. The Lady Pirates will face Cedarville in the title game tonight at 6 p.m.
Elkins took a 26-24 lead early in the third quarter but scored just one point the rest of the third to trail 44-29 going to the final eight minutes.
Kelsey Vaughan led Greenland with 22 points. Alicia Welch had 15 for Elkins.
Cedarville 36, West Fork 34
Bailie Murphy scored 11 points and Shanda Brown added eight as the Lady Pirates held off West Fork in the semifinals. Cedarville (21-7) will face Greenland tonight at 6 p.m. in the district finals.
The Lady Pirates had a six point lead with 55 seconds left but a 3-pointer by West Fork's Olivia Karnes cut the Cedarville lead to 35-34 with 17 seconds left. The Lady Pirates' Malia Hernandez made a free throw with 16 seconds left for a 36-34 lead and the Lady Tigers missed two shots within six feet the final three seconds.
Holly Griffin led West Fork (19-10) with 10 points while Dara Smith added nine. Both teams will play in the regional tournament next week in Danville.
Paul Nielsen can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWAPaul.
Sports on 02/21/2015