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Feet lock down 1st place district finish

By WILL CARTER ~ Sports Writer
Posted 2/7/23

MURFREESBORO — After jumping out to a large first quarter lead, the Webb Feet fended off the Middle Tennessee Christian School Cougars comeback efforts throughout the rest of the game for a 74-62 …

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Feet lock down 1st place district finish

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MURFREESBORO — After jumping out to a large first quarter lead, the Webb Feet fended off the Middle Tennessee Christian School Cougars comeback efforts throughout the rest of the game for a 74-62 victory and the regular season championship in Division II-A Middle District 3. 

After a midseason slump, Webb (15-10, 11-3) finished the season on a five-game win streak as they head into the district tournament as the top seed. 

“One thing I told the guys is that we wanted to close out the regular season with a win and secure the regular season championship,” Feet head coach Micah Williams said. 

“We just need to keep this momentum going throughout the tournament. The guys have been battle tested all year, and I think that’s showing with their growth and maturity in closing games out like tonight.”

After trading baskets in the early minutes of the first quarter, the Feet hit another gear on their way to a 9-2 run over a two-minute span to take a 13-6 lead midway through the frame. 

MTCS (4-20, 3-11) couldn’t slow the pace of Webb’s offensive attack from that point on, and the Feet went on an 11-2 run to close out the opening quarter with a 24-8 lead. 

All five starters contributed in the first frame with Arnett Hayes’ seven leading the way.

It was a slower second quarter as both sides couldn’t find much success on the offensive side of the floor. 

Hayes led the way for the Feet again with six of their 10 points. 

For MTCS, it was a two-man show in the first half as Andrew Adams and Devin Hill accounted for all 19 of their points through 16 minutes with Adams totaling 15. 

Webb held a 34-19 advantage at the break. 

With more of a balanced attack coming out of the locker room, four Cougars contributed to their highest scoring quarter of 22 points, but the Feet found their footing again for a 23-point effort to extend their lead heading into the final eight minutes. 

Hayes added seven more in the quarter and finished with a team-high 24 points on the night with only one three-pointer, but it's his ability to create for everyone on the offensive end that Williams likes the most. 

“Arnett is a very talented player, and I trust him to get in the paint a lot,” Williams said. 

“We’ve talked all year about his ability to not only get shots for himself, but to get other guys open shots as well. He probably had seven or eight assists tonight, and he’s capable of that every night.”

In the final frame, the Cougars battled throughout the first three minutes to cut their deficit to single digits for the first time since the first quarter, but the lead was too much and the Feet closed out the game going 9-of-10 from the free throw line for a double-digit win. 

“We just needed to put together a string of stops, and I think the guys did that,” Williams said.

“Offensively, we were able to get in the paint and get quality shots. It was important for us to have quality possessions and not force things tonight.”

The district tournament schedule was made available to the T-G at the time of release. 

Webb 24 10 23 17 — 74

MTCS 8 11 22 21 — 62

Webb: Arnett Hayes 24, Stephen Olowoniyi 14, Eli Brown 12, Hector Larsson 10, Taveon Comage 6, Noah Brown 4, Justin Burrows 2, Julian Whitsey 2.

MTCS: Andrew Adams 29, Caleb Mills 14, Devin Hill 11, Ryan Dodson 5, Max Oxley 3.

3-point goals: Webb (3): E Brown 2, Hayes; MTCS (8): Adams 4, Dodson, Hill, Mills, Oxley.

Halftime score: Webb 34, MTCS 19.