By Mike Hutchens, UC Schools Communications Director
For a good portion of Friday’s District 14-2A semifinal against top-seeded Westview, the Union City boys were what head coach Bill Kail had hoped they’d be come tournament time.
Unfortunately, the Tornadoes still have some work to do.
UC led the seventh-ranked Chargers for practically the entire first half and was still within four points with just over five minutes to play before eventually falling to the host team 60-47.
The setback bumped the Twisters (11-16) to Monday’s 6 p.m. consolation game, where they’ll play Ripley (19-9) for third place. The result also ensured that Union City will travel in Round 1 of next Saturday’s (Feb. 28) Region 7-2A tourney to either Jackson Central-Merry or Adamsville.
Having lost to Martin by 24 and 16 points, respectively, in two regular-season meetings, the Tornadoes put up a much better challenge in Friday’s third meeting.
Kail had stated in the preseason that he’d hoped his young squad – made up mostly of freshmen and sophomores – would gain seasoning and be a formidable matchup for any opponent when the postseason rolled around.
Westview can attest to that.
“We’ve played 27 games now, and our kids showed that they’ve grown up some, even though we’re still technically very young,” the UC skipper said afterward. “They stayed in the fight the whole time and followed the game plan for the most part. They competed on every possession, and I’m proud of them.”
UC built a 13-5 lead with the contest just over five minutes old and was in front for all but 40 seconds of the first half before the Chargers inched ahead 29-27 at the intermission.
A 12-3 Martin flurry to open the third period expanded the difference to 41-30, but the Twisters didn’t fold – clawing back into contention and making it a two-possession game nearly three minutes into the stretch run.
J.B. Thompson converted an old-fashioned 3-point play, and Hollister Johnson sank a deuce and a pair of free throws to close the gap to 49-45 with 5:26 showing.
Three unforced turnovers in the next three minutes when possessions were at a premium stonewalled UC’s comeback, though, and the Chargers made 5-of-5 free throws to close out the contest on an 11-2 run.
“Two things – the stretch there where we had the turnovers, and us allowing them 15 second-chance points off offensive rebounds – were our undoing,” Kail added. “They switched defenses from man to zone, and we didn’t adjust and had to take a couple of timeouts. And we’d talked in preparations about being strong with the ball and keeping them off the glass, and just didn’t do a good job of that.
“After that, we had to start chasing possessions, and they stepped up and made their free throws.”
Thompson tallied 16 points to lead the Tornadoes, while Johnson was one off that pace.
Union City made just seven second-half field goals while being outscored 31-20.