Westview stuns Dyersburg on shot at the buzzer

With time winding down and a one-point lead, Dyersburg head coach Blaine Mahaffey was simply hoping his Trojan squad would find a way to hold on and secure the victory.

Unfortunately, those hopes were dashed when Westview's Dillon Gardner sank a basket as time expired -- stunning the team as well as the large contingent of supporters in attendance -- as the Chargers escaped with a 62-61 district win.

"I was hoping we could find a way to get through it and still win the game, but when you don't play at a high level these are the types of things that will happen," added Mahaffey. "It wasn't a matter of what happened at the end of the game. We were selfish on both ends of the floor, and we're just not very good when we play that way."

The Trojans led the contest for the majority of the game, building a nine-point lead in the second half that appeared to be enough until Gardner's late-game heroics lifted the Chargers to victory.

After an emotional win over Haywood County on Tuesday, Dyersburg had momentum heading into the Homecoming encounter against Westview. Mahaffey pointed the finger at himself when the final horn had sounded.

"I did a poor job of having us ready to go. We were coming off our biggest win of the season and I didn't get us ready to play, plain and simple," he said.

While Mahaffey was quick to point the finger at himself for the loss, he also gave credit were it was due when asked about Westview's effort.

"They were the wounded dog so to speak. They were either going to come in here and lay down, or they were going to fight. I think we know now they didn't come in here to lay down," said Mahaffey.

Winn Decker led the offensive attack for Dyersburg, finishing with 15. Also in double figures for the Trojans was Tevin Taylor with 12.

Dyersburg (9-10, 5-6) connected on 24-of-56 attempts from the field compared to 21-of-45 for the Chargers. At the charity stripe is where Westview was superb, draining 15-of-19 compared to a 7-of-14 night for the Trojans.

The two squads were knotted at 11-11 at the end of the first period before Dyersburg surged ahead in the second quarter to lead, 32-23, at the break.

Westview began to chip away at the deficit in the third, trimming the Dyersburg lead to 47-42 with eight minutes to play.

In the final period, Dyersburg held a 61-57 lead before Westview's Jacob Lloyd was fouled on a 3-point attempt with 18 seconds to play. Lloyd calmly sank all three free throws to get the Chargers within one, 61-60.

On the ensuing inbounds play, a Trojan turnover gave the Chargers a chance to win it, but Lloyd missed a jumper and Sam Crocker got the rebound and was quickly fouled with 10 seconds to play.

Crocker missed the front end of the 1-and-1 at the charity stripe, allowing the Chargers to rush down court for the winning basket.

Though the defeat was hard to swallow, Mahaffey was eager to get back on the court with his squad on Saturday night against Lake County.

"When you get knocked off the horse the best thing to do is get right back on it and ride it again, and having a Saturday night game will allow us to do just that," added Mahaffey. "We wanted to win the game but it just didn't happen and we'll move on from it. I hate we didn't get it done in front of our fans though because they have been great. The crowds are continuing to get larger and we want the community to know we sure appreciate the support for our program."

Girls

Westview 55, Dyersburg 38

In the girls contest, the No.6-ranked Lady Chargers proved to be too much for the Lady Trojans, limiting the squad to four first-quarter points and 10 in the first half.

Though Dyersburg (9-11, 4-7) was down 28-10 at the half, the squad battled back in the third period before Westview stepped on the gas to win in convincing fashion, 55-38.

The two squads ended the contest with the same amount of field goals (16), but the Lady Chargers sank 19-of-25 at the charity stripe, compared to 6-of-10 for the Lady Trojans.

Dyersburg also committed 24 turnovers while Westview had 14.

K.K. Tate led Dyersburg with 13 points and seven rebounds, while Amber Mosley and Brandi Davis chipped in with six apiece.

Westview's Amber Rechis led all scorers with 24.

Due to press time, the results from the Lake County game played Saturday night will appear in Tuesday's edition of the State Gazette.