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Lanierland boys: E. Hall outlasts N. Hall in double OT, will meet Flowery Branch in championship
Flowery Branch gets past West Hall to advance to the title game
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East Hall's Tylor Brown (10) dribbles around North Hall's Dylan Satterfield (22) during the Lanierland semifinals Tuesday at East Hall High School. - photo by Erin O. Smith

2015 Lanierland Tournament

Wednesday at East Hall High

Final round

10:30 a.m. - West Hall girls vs. Johnson

Noon - Lakeview Academy girls vs. Chestatee

1:30 p.m. - Lakeview Academy boys vs. Johnson

3 p.m. - North Hall girls vs. Gainesville

4:30 p.m. - North Hall boys vs. West Hall

Championship games

6 p.m. - East Hall girls vs. Flowery Branch

7:30 p.m. - East Hall boys vs. Flowery Branch

2015 Lanierland Tournament

Tuesday at East Hall High

Second round

10:30 a.m. – Lakeview Academy girls 77, West Hall 54

Noon – Chestatee girls 42, Johnson 26

1:30 p.m. – Johnson boys 72, Chestatee 58

3 p.m. – Flowery Branch girls 66, North Hall 34

Flowery Branch advances to the Lanierland title game Wednesday at East Hall High vs. East Hall

4:30 p.m. – East Hall boys 76, North Hall 73 (2OT)

East Hall advances to the Lanierland title game Wednesday at East Hall High vs. Flowery Branch.

6 p.m. – East Hall girls 44, Gainesville 41

East Hall advances to the Lanierland title game Wednesday at East Hall High vs. Flowery Branch. 

7:30 p.m. – Flowery Branch boys 59, West Hall 47

Flowery Branch advances to the Lanierland title game Wednesday at East Hall High vs. East Hall

“Welcome to Lanierland,” East Hall coach Joe Dix said.

There are no better words to describe the classic that took place Tuesday night on East Hall’s home floor, the hosts of this year’s semifinal and final rounds of the tournament, where the Vikings needed two overtimes to pull out a 76-73 victory over North Hall.

“That’s the type of games you get in this tournament,” Dix said.

East Hall (9-3) will move on to play Flowery Branch at 7:30 p.m. in the Lanierland championship game. North Hall (6-4) will play West Hall for third place at 4:30 p.m. Both games will be at East Hall.

The game came down to the last four seconds in the second overtime period.

East Hall called a timeout, leading 76-73, with an inbounds under North Hall’s basket.

The Vikings threw the ball in and it was tipped at half court. Trojans guard Carson Heinen rounded up the loose ball and heaved it toward his basket as the buzzer sounded and hit nothing but net.

The crowd went nuts. Disbelief on the faces of East Hall fans and sheer excitement on the faces of Trojan faithful.

But it was all to be flipped the opposite as whistles rang out among the screams.

A member of the North Hall team called for a timeout as soon as Heinen grabbed the loose ball, meaning the shot didn’t count.

“Somebody called time before (the shot was taken), which is the right idea,” said Trojans’ coach Tyler Sanders. “It couldn’t go our way. It was a good idea. We have a two-second play that we run and it was a great idea to set up for that. It didn’t go in our favor.”

The timeout was called with 2.4 seconds remaining on the clock.

The Trojans got one more shot at it, but, as Sanders said, it didn’t go in their favor.

North Hall led a comeback in the final seconds of the first overtime period as well.

Heinen hit a free throw to tie the game at 60-all. On the other end, Luke Cooper drained a 3-pointer to take another lead for East Hall.

After another free throw drew the Trojans within two, a steal and pass ahead to Evan Easton resulted in a dunk to tie the game at 63-63.

North Hall hit another free throw to go up 64-63 before Cooper hit another 3-pointer to put East Hall up by two.

Heinen then drove the basket and missed a layup. He was there to collect his own rebound and score the final two points needed to tie the game at 66-66.

East Hall had a chance with 40 seconds left in the contest. They held the ball out to wait for the last shot.

The Vikings got the ball to Andy Lara, who heaved a shot that hit the rim just before time expired.

“That was a great ballgame,” Sanders said. “That was two teams, and Joe mentioned it yesterday, we expected a war and that was two teams that laid absolutely everything they could on the line to win that game. We missed some free throws late and they made a couple more shots late to win the game.”

Dix echoed Sanders saying the game was a battle.

“Both teams punched and counter-punched,” Dix said. “Guys made plays on both teams to extend the game. We both made mistakes. We made a couple more (shots) down the stretch, had a couple of timely 3s and got a great victory. Great game.”

Sanders said playing in such a tight contest will help his team when the region schedule begins and late into January with region tournaments.

East Hall had four scorers in double digits. The Vikings were led by Tylor Brown, who had 17 on the night.

Markese Jackson knocked in 16 points. Cooper hit three 3-pointers, including one in each overtime period, to get to 13. Lara finished with 11.

Heinen led all scorers in the game with 20 points for North Hall, after totaling 9 in the fourth quarter and two overtimes.

Easton scored 15 of his 17 points in the second half. Harrison Harper made all three of his attempts from the free throw line to mark 11 points in the contest.

As a team, North Hall was 12 of 25 from the foul line on the night.

FLOWERY BRANCH BOYS 59, WEST HALL 47: Three different Falcons (8-5) hit a 3-pointer in the first quarter to race out to a 13-10 lead and never looked back as they defeated West Hall (5-6) 59-47 Tuesday.

The Falcons will move on to play East Hall at 7:30 p.m. at East Hall for the Lanierland championship. West Hall will play North Hall for third place at 4:30 p.m.

Gabe Holston led Flowery Branch with 15 points in the game. Chris Garcia had 12, including 7 in the fourth quarter. John Mills had 10 for the Falcons, all of which came in the second half.

West Hall was led by Dylan Curry with 13 points. He was 7 of 8 from the free throw line. Esteban Ulloa and Xzavier Reid both finished with 11.

“It was a great effort, a team effort,” Flowery Branch coach David Sokol said. “I’m happy for the team, happy for the school.”

According to Sokol, the Falcons will be back in the Lanierland final for the first time since 2008.

“We have an opportunity to play a powerhouse at their place tomorrow, East Hall,” Sokol said. “It’s going to be tough, but we’re excited and looking forward to the opportunity.

“They’re going to full-court press you and wear you out,” he continued. “All we can do is give our best effort. We’re going to do that.”

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