MOREHEAD, Ky. Ƶ Bath County had Ƶhland right where it wanted the Tomcats Monday night in the Kentucky 16th Region boys basketball semifinals at Johnson Arena.
The only problem was the Tomcats never flinched down the stretch.
Bath County took a 42-39 lead to the final stanza, but Colin Porter netted nine of his team-high 17 points in the final eight minutes to lead Ƶhland to a 59-55 win over Bath County.
ƵI expect nothing less out of Colin,Ƶ Ƶhland coach Jason Mays said. ƵWe have three Cs in our program: confidence, composure and class. I thought that fourth quarter they demonstrated all three of those.Ƶ
Ƶhland started the fourth quarter on a 10-0 run and took its largest lead of the night on a Porter 3-pointer to cap the run that made it 49-42.
The Wildcats clawed back into it, cutting it to one possession, but never found a way to get back over the hump of a game they led for nearly 12 minutes.
ƵYou just canƵt flinch here, man,Ƶ Mays said. Ƶ(Bath County coach Bart Williams) was juicing his timeouts, so I didnƵt have to. You just regroup and if you change defenses, you communicate.Ƶ
Cole Villers added 16 points for Ƶhland and Ethan Sellars kicked in 14, with 12 behind four triples in the first half.
Villers and Sellars each knocked down a pair of free throws in the final 20 seconds to secure a berth in the championship for the fifth consecutive year.
Ƶhland will meet Boyd County in the championship at 7 p.m. Tuesday with the contest marking the fourth meeting between the teams this season.
ƵWe will have played them four times and itƵs hard to beat someone four times, but we are going to find a way to do it,Ƶ Mays said.
Bath County closed the season 27-5 and fell to 0-4 versus Ƶhland in the regional tournament.
ASHLAND 17 10 12 20Ƶ59: Atkins 4, Porter 17, Sellars 14, Villers 16, Carter 2, Conway 6, Adkins.
BATH COUNTY 14 13 15 13Ƶ55: Sorrell 8, Wilson 20, Buckhanon 12, Otis 15, Grigsby, Hill.
BOYD COUNTY 66 ROWAN COUNTY 59: Boyd County connected on 14 3-pointers, good for third all-time in 16th Region history, and led wire-to-wire for the win over Rowan County.
Boyd County opened a 14-4 lead to start the contest sparked by back-to-back 3-pointers from Rheyce Deboard. Rowan County answered with a 7-0 run out of a timeout to cut the LionsƵ lead to only three points after one quarter.
ƵThat was one of our deals, especially with them and how methodical they can be,Ƶ Boyd County coach Randy Anderson said of the early run. ƵIt was good to see shots falling.Ƶ
Deboard led the Lions with 22 points and hit 6 of 9 shots from behind the arc.
ƵIt was huge for him and you can tell when heƵs feeling it,Ƶ Anderson said of Deboard. ƵHe leads us and is out in front of it so, when he leads us like that, we just kind of feed off it.Ƶ
The Lions turned a two-point game into a 42-26 lead after going on a 16-2 run, highlighted by five 3-pointers in the third quarter.
Boyd County surrendered 33 points in the final stanza as Rowan County trimmed the deficit to seven but got no closer.
ƵWe are young again,Ƶ Anderson said. ƵWe have a few veterans out there, but we have to do a better job with clock management at the end of the game.Ƶ
Anderson said getting to the region title game is big for a team full of young talent.
Boyd County last won the regional championship in 2018 and last met Ƶhland for the title in 2019, when the Tomcats won their first of three consecutive.
ƵItƵs huge, especially with so many young ones that we have in there,Ƶ Anderson said of the title berth. ƵThatƵs your goal every year and itƵs where you want to get. For us to be able to do that with a young team, itƵs going to be very big.Ƶ
BOYD COUNTY 14 11 19 24--66: Hicks 16, Ellis 2, Deboard 22, Spurlock 17, A. Taylor, G. Taylor, Robertson, Newsome 3, Holbrook 6.
ROWAN COUNTY 11 8 7 33--59: Maxey, Ingles 6, Alderman 23, Hammonds, Wilburn 15, Watson 11, Gray 4.
