Central outlasts Lee in OT to advance to Class 7A semifinals

It had to happen this way.

After back-to-back fruitless trips to Montgomery for the state quarterfinals, it was never going to be easy for Central to get over the hump. It required a lot of strategic substitutions after getting into foul trouble. It required a number of bruises as bodies came crashing to the hardwood court. And, in the end, it required an extra four minutes. But when the final horn sounded, the Red Devils were finally headed to Birmingham.

They defeated Lee-Montgomery in overtime on Thursday in the Class 7A central regional final, 70-61. It was their third consecutive trip to the quarterfinals. Their previous two seasons ended with losses to Carver-Montgomery and Lee-Montgomery in the Dunn-Oliver Acadome. With the win, Central advances to its first semifinals since 2010, where it will face Spain Park (2:30 p.m. March 3). It is coach Bobby Wright’s sixth semifinals appearance overall.

“That wasn’t my game plan,” Wright joked when asked whether it was poetic that it took overtime for his team to pull out the win. “If I had my druthers, we would have won by four or five in regulation. But they reached down deep and found something within themselves to be able to win.”

After gaining momentum in the third quarter, the game began to slip away from Central down the stretch in the fourth. Tre Todd scored nine of his 16 points in the third as Central outscored Lee 18-10 to erase a one-point halftime deficit. A three-pointer by Tionne Williams to open the fourth put Central up by 10.

But the combination of Henry Ruggs and Roderic Scott would not go away for the Generals. Ruggs put down a powerful dunk on a fast break after a shot block at the other end to make it 49-45 with 5:11 left in regulation. Scott stole the ball in the back court and laid in an easy bucket to make it 49-47.

Minutes later, Ruggs tied the game at 53-53 with 1:40 left, and Scott put in a a basket to go ahead 55-53 with 1:05 left.

As he did all game, though, Todd came up with a big basket on a hard take to the rim at the other end to tie the game with a minute left. Lee wore down the clock and then had a chance at a lob to the rim from out of bounds with two seconds left, but Central broke up the play to force overtime.

Demarkus Lampley scored six of his team-high 23 points in the extra four minutes to put the Generals away.

“We had to step up,” he said. “We had to lock down on those guys and make big shots at the other end. Coach depends on us to lead the team, so we had to knock those down.”

Todd scored 15 of his 16 points in the second half and overtime combined. He did all that despite being charged with his fourth personal foul with time left in the third quarter. Wright said he wanted to switch Todd out on offense and defense, but Todd tried to stay in the game as much as possible.

“As we got to overtime, I knew it was the right decision,” Wright said with a laugh.

Now, Central turns its attention toward Spain Park. None of the players on this team have been to the state semifinals. Lampley, in fact, said he had never been to Birmingham period.

“I’m excited to be going,” he said. “I’ve never been. It’ll be a great experience.”

Wright insisted that the team isn’t worried about the next milestone — a state championship, an honor the program has never achieved. With that said, Todd said the team wants to win one for its Hall-of-Fame coach, who has won every honor but a state title during his career.

“Just a ring,” Todd said. “We just want to win state.”

This story was originally published February 25, 2016 at 10:56 PM with the headline "Central outlasts Lee in OT to advance to Class 7A semifinals."