Cumberland County continued their surprise run through the Fourth Region All-A Classic field as they knocked off Todd County Central 71-67 Thursday in the semifinals in Elkton.
The Panthers, who entered the tournament with two wins, will play defending region champion Clinton County Friday and look for their first-ever berth in the All-A Classic State Tournament.
Junior Dawson Smith his six of Cumberland County’s 11 three-pointers and finished with a game-high 39 points. He continually made buckets to stop Rebel runs and scored 12 of the Panthers’ 17 points in the fourth quarter.
Cumberland County hit five 3-pointers in the opening quarter as they jumped out to leads of 11-4 and 14-6. Todd County Central got on track and cut the deficit to 19-15 after one quarter.
Todd Central tied the game twice in the second quarter but could never take the lead – a theme throughout the contest.
Down 36-32 at the half, Todd County tied the game at 36. Cumberland’s biggest lead in the quarter was eight points.
Jon Calvery hit two free throws on consecutive trips to tie the game at 54 with 5:13 left. Cumberland answered with two quick buckets, but Todd tied the game for the final time at 58 on a Kimahri Briggs bucket with 4:05 left.
Free throws were the undoing of the Rebels down the stretch. Todd hit just 6-of-13 free throws in the fourth quarter and was 10-of-18 for the game.
Cumberland wasn’t much better. They were 6-of-12 at the charity stripe in the final frame. With the Panthers leading by three points with nine seconds left, they missed the second of two free throws. However, the rebound glanced off the hands of a pair of Rebels and was corralled by Cumberland County to secure the win.
In addition to Smith’s 39 points, Joe Johnson scored nine of his 4 points in the first quarter.
Jon Calvery scored 24 points and pulled down nine rebounds for the Rebels. Austin Rager scored 10 points, and Deonte Toliver had nine points for Todd County (5-14). The Rebels will host the Clarksville Academy Monday.
