GARDNER — Hollywood has the Oscars. Meadow Bridge has the “Tylers,” and they played to rave reviews on Friday night.

Tyler Bennett scored 13 of his game-high 17 points in the fourth quarter, including nine during a 17-0 run, helping the Wildcats rally for a 45-33 Class A, Region III, Section 2 championship victory over Iaeger at PikeView High School.

Meadow Bridge (14-6), which won its fourth straight sectional title and fifth in the last seven seasons, will host Fayetteville in the regionals on Wednesday, with a trip to the state tournament on the line.

“I hope we can win and go on up state,” Bennett said.

Iaeger (10-12), which led 28-20 after three quarters and 33-28 with 4:05 left in the game, will travel to Midland Trail on the same evening.

“This is real discouraging. I wish Meadow Bridge good luck next week, and our boys are going to get into the gym on Monday and start over and maybe pick up a way to play two more minutes in a game,” Iaeger head coach Don Smith said.

“We are been probably the best 30-minute team in West Virginia this year. This is the seventh game we’ve lost this in the last two minutes. If we were a junior high team, we would be undefeated right now.”

Trailing by eight with just 20 points through three quarters, the Wildcats got instructions from head coach Edwin McCall.

“Coach just told us to run a bunch of Tylers, that’s all he told us,” Bennett said. “We started to pick up the tempo and you see where it got us.” 

The Wildcats proceeded to outscore the Cubs 25-5 in the fourth quarter,  including a 17-0 run over the final four minutes with Bennett and 6-foot-8 Chris Gray leading the way.

“Run a lot of Tylers, that’s what we call it,” McCall said. “We wanted to set a lot of screens for Tyler and try to spring him open and let him create him some space and see if we can let him create something and you saw the evidence tonight. He can create.”

Playing a deliberate style, Iaeger led 18-14 at the break, and built that margin to eight with eight minutes left, keyed by a pair of 3s from Landon Hurley and Charlie Stacy.

It was then that Bennett, who was still struggling from the effects of a car wreck on Friday, took over. He not only scored 13 points on three field goals and was 7-of-8 from the charity stripe, but he also had four rebounds, a steal and an assist in the final quarter.

“He’s had a rough couple of days, he does not feel good, you can tell he doesn’t feel good right now,” McCall said. “He’s not real happy right now, but he’s a great kid. I have had few kids that have worked harder than Tyler Bennett.”

Cody Jackson, who led Iaeger with nine points and seven rebounds, gave Iaeger that five-point fourth quarter lead, but the Cubs would never score again. Bennett brought the Wildcats to within one on a pair of layups, and Gray put Meadow Bridge on top for good with an offensive putback with 2:32 left on the clock.

“It was a like a snowball going down hill and at the bottom we were standing there waiting for us to hit us,” Smith said. “Meadow Bridge came out with an intensity in the fourth quarter, especially the last part of it, and we didn’t match it and it did just snowball.”

Gray had six of his 15 points in the fourth period, and also led all rebounders with 10. Bennett added seven boards and three assists.

“He’s a big guy and if we know how to use him, he can really be good for us,” Bennett said.

Meadow Bridge also connected on free throws, making 11-of-12 in the final quarter and 15-19 for the game. Bennett was 7-8 and Gray was 3-3.

“When we had the five-point lead, that was the last time we scored and then the wheels fell off...” said Smith, whose Cubs had beaten Meadow Bridge by 13 points at the Hoops Classic in December. “We were alternating between turnovers, bad shots and missing a couple of good shots.

“They went to the line, they missed one (in the fourth quarter) and that was it. If your strategy is to put them on the line and hope they miss and then they don’t miss, it sort of beats your strategy.

“Of course, if you don’t score when you come back down it really defeats it."

Stacy added seven points off the bench for the Cubs.

—Contact Brian Woodson

at bwoodson@bdtonline.com

 

at PikeView High School

IAEGER (10-12)

Kennedy 2 0-0 5, Hurley 2 0-0 4, Morgan 2 0-0 4, Jackson 2 5-8 9, Johnson 0 0-0 0, Stacy 3 0-0 7, T.Walker 2 0-0 4, Garrett 0 0-0 0. Totals 13 5-8 33.

MEADOW BRIDGE (14-6)   

B.Adkins 2 0-0 4, Tyler Bennett 5 7-8 17, Chris Gray 6 3-3 15, White 0 3-4 3, Porter 1 2-4 4, Wingard 1 0-0 2, Redden 0 0-0 0, Z.Adkins 0 0-0 0, Bryan 0 0-0 0, Jones 0 0-0 0. Totals 15 15-19 45.

Iaeger.....................................12  6  10  5  —  33

Meadow Bridge......................7  7  14  6  — 45

3-point goals: IG 2 (Hurley 1, Stacy 1); MB 0. Total fouls IG 18; MB 11. Fouled out: Morgan. Technicals: none.