By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
Union City, Tenn.–Union City saved its best for last.
Playing easily its most-complete overall game against top-quality competition, the Golden Tornadoes celebrated Senior Night and wound up their regular season with a 47-45 upset of fourth-ranked Columbia Academy Thursday night.
Ben McMillan scored 17 of his game-high points in the first half, and Tyler Walton made big plays on both ends down the stretch as the Purple and Gold avenged an earlier 17-point loss to CA and moved to 21-8 heading into the postseason next week.
The Twisters were especially impressive on the defensive end, holding Bulldog star Carson Cary – the son of UCHS graduates John and Amy (Doyle) Cary – to just seven points after he scored 25 in the first meeting of the two teams.
The UC girls will also enter District 13A Tournament play on a high note after completing a season sweep of the Lady Bulldogs, claiming a 50-45 come-from-behind victory.
The Twister girls (11-15) snapped a three-game losing streak behind a 15-point effort from Kendall Davis, outscoring the visitors 23-16 in the fourth quarter.
Both Union City squads will now move on to postseason play, the girls playing at Bradford in a first-round elimination game Monday night at 6:30. A win would put the Lady Tornadoes in Wednesday’s 13A semifinals and would also guarantee them three more games and a regional tournament berth.
The UC boys have already assured themselves of that perk, having won the regular season district title, and won’t play until next Friday at 6 p.m. at UT Martin against the Lake County-South Fulton winner.
The Elam Center on the campus of UTM will host both the girls’ and boys’ semifinals and championship games, as well as the Region 7A tourney semis and finals.
UC 47, CA 45 (B)
While McMillan carried the bulk of the offensive burden in the first half, Walton hit a 3-pointer, then scored on an up-and-under from inside to put the Tornadoes up for good at 41-39 with 6:42 to play.
Walton later nailed a 15-footer, and drew a huge charge on the defensive end with 11 seconds showing and his team up by two.
Kaler Bobo’s two foul shots with 8.6 ticks left proved to the game-winning points and Nolan Wilson hit a critical free throw with 32 seconds to play.
“As complete an effort – especially on the defensive end and with our rebounding – as we’ve had all year,” UC head coach Shane Sisco responded afterward. “We were able to put 32 minutes together with no lapses against a very good basketball team. It shows the guys that if we’ll execute and play hard at all times, we can be a good basketball team.”
The coach then acknowledged both McMillan and Walton, along with a trio of other players who were instrumental in the win.
“We had so many guys contribute – Ben with his offense and a big 3-pointer there in the second half when we were down by seven. Tyler did a great job of putting the ball on the floor and getting to the rim, and what a huge defensive play he made with the charge.
“(Hudson) Calfee chased down three loose balls there in the second half and then both Kaler (Bobo) and Nolan (Wilson) made the key free throws at the end. “
Union City led by as many as nine (20-11) in the first half after McMillan got hot, including a stretch of 10 straight points in the opening quarter. Carter Walton had a huge steal and layup at the buzzer to give the Twisters a 15-9 lead.
The Tornadoes held one-point advantages (25-24, 36-35) at the second- and third-quarter horns.
Tyler Walton finished with 11 points to join McMillan in double figures.
UC 50, CA 45 (G)
The Lady Tornadoes trailed for most of the first three quarters before turning it on down the stretch.
And head coach Chuck Reedy insisted all the credit should go to his players for the comeback triumph.
“I had literally nothing to do with us winning tonight,” the first-year skipper claimed. “They finally decided they were going to play and they just gutted it out and made enough shots to get over the hump in the fourth quarter.
“It wasn’t necessarily pretty, but it was a good win for the girls heading into Monday night. I thought Kendall (Davis) was better in the second half and made some shots, and Shyon Stephens is absolutely the most consistent defensive player we have on the team.”
Included in UC’s fourth-quarter rally was a 9-2 flurry that included seven straight markers.
After three ties, Jada Williams drove for a bucket with 2:32 to play that gave the Lady Twisters a 40-38 lead that they’d never relinquish. Sophie Theobald and Davis both hit a pair of free throw to pad the lead to six, and CA (7-18) got no closer than three points the rest of the way.
Davis made a pair of 3-pointers and 7-of-8 foul shots while finishing with a team-best 15 points. Williams and Stephens finished with nine and eight, respectively.
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