Murphy – After Hiwassee Dam boys basketball came back from a 23-point deficit and beat Murphy in double overtime, the Eagles’ faithful were in no rush to leave the Bulldogs’ gymnasium. Dozens of fan gathered on the court, waiting for the players to exit the visiting locker room Thursday night.
As the players returned to the court, each received some applause. However, everyone was waiting for one in particular: Tanner Taylor.
With 3.7 seconds left, the junior caught a pass from Leo Hickson just inside the three-point arc on the left side. His jump shot was nothing but net, and it was the difference for Hiwassee Dam in an 85-83 double overtime thriller. Taylor returned to the court not on his own feet, but on the shoulders of a teammate.
“Highlight of my career,” Tanner said of the shot after the game.
It was a scene that was hard to imagine earlier that night. The Bulldogs (8-10 overall) came out firing, playing with pace and hitting shots all around the court. Murphy was able to get to the rim and used a rotation of bigs in Zack Skogen, Hunter Laney and Dominick Rummler to get second-chance opportunities.
When that wasn’t happening, the Bulldogs’ guards were able to use their athleticism to get to the rim. The result was a double-digit lead early in the first quarter that grew to 48-25 with 3:23 remaining in the third quarter.
At that point, Hiwassee Dam head coach Mark Raper was just hoping his team would continue to compete to the final whistle.
“I just told them win one quarter,” Raper said. “Win one quarter and I’ll be proud of you.”
The first push came to end the third quarter, which the Eagles (10-7) ended on a 15-3 run that trimmed the lead to 51-40 heading into the final frame.
Hiwassee Dam’s ball movement started to lead to some better shots, then star center Sam Bradford started to get into the flow of the game, though Murphy didn’t make anything easy.
Bradford left with a bloody nose in the second quarter, then returned with a No. 14 jersey instead of his usual No. 34. He finished with a game-high 29 points, but Preston Hyde stepped up and added 23, Jonathan Raper had 13, with all three plus Taylor and Leo Hickson making plays throughout the second half.
“I got down on them pretty hard in the locker, and they started playing hard,” Raper said. “They started playing with confidence and not playing timid.”
After the Eagles’ burst, Murphy answered back to start the fourth quarter, pushing the lead to 61-44 with about six minutes to go. The Bulldogs should have closed out a victory from there.
However, two minutes later a Bradford layup cut the lead to 63-54. That was the start of an 8-0 that cut the Murphy lead to 63-62, and when things really started to get crazy.
Following a second-chance layup by Ty Laney, Preston Hyde drilled a three-pointer to tie the game, then hit a jumper to give Hiwassee Dam its first lead since the game’s opening minutes. Skogen split a pair of free throws for Murphy, and Jonathan Raper answered with an Eagles triple with less than a minute to go, putting them on the brink of an unlikely victory.
But Will Carringer answered with a three for the Bulldogs. And after Hickson turned it over, Dillian Brown hit one of two free throws to tie the game at 70 with 24.2 seconds remaining and force overtime.
Both teams led in the first period, though Murphy looked like it was going to hold off Hiwassee Dam after a Carringer three-pointer with less than two minutes left and an empty Eagles possession put the Bulldogs up 77-75. However, Hickson stole the ball away on the next possession and went coast to coast for a layup to tie the game at 77 and force double overtime.
The back and forth continued in the second period. After Skogen hit a tough shot, Bradford, Hyde and Hickson scored in succession, only for one last Murphy punch.
Laney hit a layup then stole a pass, scored and
was fouled to tie the game at 83. He missed the free throw, and both teams had an empty possession to set up Taylor’s game-winning shot.
“At the end, it was who had the ball at the right time,” Raper said.
The win not only gives Hiwassee Dam a season sweep of a county rival, but gets them back on track during the final stretch of the regular season. After starting the year 8-3, the Eagles lost four straight, including at Andrews on Jan. 24.
The next day, they avenged a Jan. 8 loss to Copper Basin, Tenn., before beating Murphy. Hiwassee Dam plays at Blue Ridge on Friday. A win over the Bobcats would give the Eagles a share of their third straight Little Smoky Mountain Conference championship.