District 1-5A boys: Bay holds off Arnold to advance

SPRINGFIELD — There was a sense midway through the second quarter of Bay’s 50-45 win over Arnold that the Tornadoes were verging on breaking the game open.

That after a nine-point run in the first quarter Tuesday night at Rutherford, a double-figure lead was soon to ensue in their District 1-5A play-in game.

Instead, Bay missed two layups in transition and Arnold refused to go away. It took a succession of key plays by Tornadoes’ post players Corey Brown and Tommy Wade in the final minute to ensure that Bay moved on to a semifinal game against host Rutherford 7 p.m. Friday.

The Tornadoes, 11-14, won their fourth consecutive game and seventh in their last eight along with the right to meet the Rams, 19-4 and ranked seventh in Class 5A by a statewide coaches poll. The Marlins finished 8-18.

Bay seemed to rise to the moment once Bevon Stewart scored his only basket of the game to give Arnold a 34-32 lead with 2:42 left in the third quarter. It was the Marlins’ first lead since Rob Davison picked up a loose ball to score the opening basket of the game.

“Yeah, it did” energize Bay, Coach Michael Grady said. “Psychologically sometimes kids don’t respond until they’re challenged.

“They don’t know that just because you’ve already beaten a team twice you can’t just walk into the gym and walk over them.”

Bay produced an immediate 10-0 spurt once Arnold had edged ahead. But with Jordan Nowells scoring 11 of his game-high 15 points in the second half the Marlins again refused to surrender.

They trailed just 47-45 with 1:16 remaining when Grady called timeout. That’s when Brown, a 6-foot-6 freshman, and Wade, a 6-5 junior, became prominent.

Wade was whistled for a lane violation with 1:00 left, but Brown drew a charge against Doug Lott with 0:32 showing. Brown then found Wade alone underneath for the key basket 9 seconds later.

Wade rebounded Arnold’s next attempt, made the front end of the bonus when fouled and blocked the Marlins’ final shot as time expired.

Brown finished with 10 points and Wade eight for Bay, which had nine players score.

Davison supported Nowells with 12 points, all in the first half.

The teams were matched in the play-in game largely because each showcased only one senior on their roster. As a sign they were starting to play some of their best basketball, however, Arnold also had won consecutive games before Tuesday.

“Basically they’ve played enough minutes now and are getting better,” Arnold coach James Baxley said of his younger players. “We knew that would be the case.

“But they kept chipping and plugging away.”

The Bay-Rutherford game Friday will be preceded by the first semifinal between Gulf Breeze and West Florida Tech at 5:30 p.m.

The winners meet 7 p.m. Saturday for the District 1-5A championship.

• ARNOLD (45)
• Murray 1 0-0 3, Lott 2 4-4 8, Davison 5 2-3 12, Stewart 1 0-2 2, Smedley 2 0-0 5, Nowells 7 1-3 15, Feitel 0 0-0 0. Totals: 18 7-12 45.
• BAY (50)
• Tucker 2 1-2 5, Rivers 3 0-0 8, Taylor 1 4-4 7, Wade 3 2-3 8, Brown 5 0-0 10, Goodman 1 0-0 3, Foster 0 0-0 0, Selders 2 0-1 5, Sims 1 0-2 2, Shorter 1 0-0 2. Totals: 19 7-12 50.
• Arnold 9 14 11 11 — 45
• Bay 14 14 9 13 — 50
• 3-point goals: Arnold 2 (Murray, Smedley), Bay 5 (Rivers 2, Selders, Taylor, Goodman). Total fouls: Arnold 13, Bay 15. Fouled out: none.