Plainview Boys Move To 9-2
By Nick Hall
The No. 1 ranked, Class 3A Plainview Bears moved to 9-2 on the season with road wins over the Geraldine Bulldogs and the Class 5A Etowah Blue Devils last week. Read below to see how it all went down.
Plainview 90, Geraldine 74
Plainview led 24-17 after one, but a big second period gave the Bulldogs a 37-36 lead going into halftime. By the end of the third frame, the Bears had retaken control with a 68-63 lead on their way to 16-point win. Tristan Willingham lit up the scoreboard with 31 points, six of which came off three technical fouls by Geraldine down the stretch.
Willingham stepped to the line and knocked down all six shots consecutively to stretch Plainview’s lead out of reach. Cole Millican followed with 20 points, three rebounds and four assists. Luke Smith finished with 11 points, four rebounds, three steals and one assist, followed by Dylan Haymon with 10 points and three assists. A quick look at the stat sheet makes it clear that rebounding is what kept the Bulldogs in it until late.
“Geraldine crushed us on the glass and took it to us,” said Plainview Head Coach Robi Coker. “In the second half, we did a good job of figuring out a way to win the game. You want to host the area tournament and being able to win two road games in the first area rotation is always a positive.”
Plainview 73, Etowah 60
The Plainview Bears had their hands full early with the Etowah Blue Devils. Etowah started fast and used tenacious defense to take a 21-15 lead over the Bears at the end of the first period. Plainview flipped the script in the second period, winning the frame 23-13 to take a halftime lead of 38-34. Etowah fought back in the third period, but still the Bears lead grew by one. The final frame was all Plainview. The Bears outscored the Blue Devils 17-9 down the stretch to secure the win.
Jonah Williams led Plainview with 21 points, largely due to his success shooting three-pointers, Williams went 5-7 from behind the arc. Smith and Willingham finished with 12 points each. The pair grabbed six and seven rebounds respectively. Millican and Grant Sanders contributed nine points and six rebounds each, while Jacob Henderson added six points and five rebounds.
“Our effort and our focus was pretty good,” said Coker. “Their guards’ speed created some matchup problems. They shot the ball well and that gave us some problems as well. We had to execute in the fourth quarter and did a good job of finishing the game.”