HICKORY — Hickory's boys' basketball team has not always been nice to Watauga, especially in the Red Tornadoes' David Craft Gym

Hickory pulled away from visiting Watauga 64-53 in the semifinals of the Northwestern Conference Tournament Wednesday. However, in the third meeting between the teams this season, it took Hickory until the fourth quarter to push past the Pioneers.

It wasn't the case when Watauga visited Hickory earlier this season. Hickory took a 20-2 first-quarter lead in that Dec. 16 game and rolled to an easy victory.

Watauga made things much more difficult this time. Surviving an early Hickory 3-point shooting barrage in the first quarter, Watauga held a 33-31 halftime lead, and trailed 43-42 going into the fourth quarter.

Hickory, which has lost just two NWC games (one was to Watauga last season) has won all three of the NWC tournament games it has played. The Red Tornadoes play Alexander Central in the finals at 8 p.m. Friday at David Craft Gym.

“They gave us more than a scare,” Hickory coach Shawn Johnson said of Watauga. “Watauga has a very good basketball team. We kind of caught them off guard in the first game, but they've done a lot of great things. I felt like they played even better tonight. We wanted to continue to pressure them and make things happen and it did in the fourth quarter.”

It was then that Hickory (22-3) started to pull away from the Pioneers (10-14) by opening the fourth quarter with a 12-0 run. Watauga turned the ball over on five of its first six possessions of the quarter that helped spark the Red Tornadoes' game wining run.

Watauga's Jake Pifer's three-point play with 3:20 slowed Hickory's run for a bit, but the Red Tornadoes scored the next eight points to take a commanding 63-45 lead that was never in jeopardy.

Watauga closed out the game with an 8-1 run, but Hickory was never in any danger of losing the game.

Watauga was able to keep up with Hickory in a first-quarter that saw the Red Tornadoes make six 3-point baskets. Darius Malbon made five of them, but Watauga regrouped and trailed 23-18 at the end of the period. The Pioneers solved the Red Tornadoes' full-court pressure that gave them problems in the first quarter and outscored Hickory 15-7 in the second quarter to take a two-point halftime lead.

“We came out and played with a lot of intensity,” Watauga coach Rob Sanders said. “We played a lot smarter basketball. We executed our game plan a lot better this time around and we scored. We had that unfortunate lull there when we couldn't score when they put up an eight or nine point lead and it just grew from there.”

Malbon made six out of the 10 3-point shots the Red Tornadoes put through the basket. Malbon led all scorers with 21 points. Jordan Walls-Davis added three 3-points and finished with 15 points. Zach Jarrett scored seven.

“Our whole game plan was to force them to shoot from the outside and keep them from getting to the rim,” Sanders said. “You try to play the percentages. They chance of them missing a 3-ball is greater than them missing a layup or a dunk. They did get hot early on, but you play your percentages that the kid is not going to stay that hot for four quarters. When he starts to miss, all we have to do is rebound the basketball and attack and score on the other end and we'll be fine.”

Pifer, who made two of Watauga's three 3-point baskets, led Watauga with 17 points. Ben Howser added 12 points and Matt Proffitt scored 10. No other Pioneer scored more than four points.

Hickory takes on Alexander Central in the finals on Friday. Alexander Central slipped past St. Stephens 45-44 in the other semifinal game.

Hickory beat Alexander Central in two close games this season, while the Cougars topped the Red Tornadoes in Taylorsville on a last-second 3-point shot. The two teams shared the NWC regular-season championship, but Hickory was awarded the No. 1 seed because of its two victories over Alexander Central, even though one of them was a non-conference game.

Watauga opens the state 4-A playoffs next week, though an opponent nor a time for the game has been determined.

 

Hickory 64, Watauga 53

Watauga (10-14)

Pifer 6 3-4 17, Poulos 0 2-2 2, Proffitt 4 2-3 10, Howser 5 1-3 12, Chasteen 0 4-4 4, Koppenhaver 2 0-0 4, Baker 2 0-0 4, Gailes 0 0-0 0, Sturgill 0 0-0 0, Mackey 0 0-0 0. Totals 19 12-16 53.

Hickory (22-3)

Jarrett 2 2-5 7, Byrd 1 3-4 5, Witherspoon 2 0-0 4, Connelly 0 1-2 1, Walls-Davis 5 2-3 15, Fuller 1 1-2 3, Mason 1 1-1 3, Malbon 6 3-4 21, Huffman 2 0-0 4. Totals 20 14-23 64.

Watauga          18 15 9 11 — 53

Hickory           23 8 12 21 — 64

3-point goals—Watauga 3 (Pifer 2, Howser), Hickory 10 (Malbon 6, Walls-Davis 3, Jarrett). Rebounds—Watauga 35 (Proffitt, Chasteen 5), Hickory 27 (Huffman 6). Turnovers—Watauga 18, Hickory 13. Total fouls—Watauga 18, Hickory 16. Fouled out—None. Technical fouls—None.