Tinson, Perry leads Cats’ fourth-quarter surge

Published 11:34 pm Tuesday, December 5, 2006

With their lead growing slimmer and the hour later, Dalton High’s boys basketball team got an offensive boost from a pair of seniors to make coach Mike Duffie a winner in his home and Region 7-4A debut with the Catamounts.

Holding a threadbare 42-39 lead a minute into the fourth quarter, Daniel Tinson and Ryan Perry scored all the points in a 14-1 run on their way to a 69-48 victory over Ridgeland on Tuesday at the Cats’ Den.

Tinson — who scored a game-high 17 points along with teammate Lemond Searels — picked up 10 during the run and 13 total in the fourth quarter. Perry, who had a field goal and sank two free throws during the run, fed Tinson inside for a basket and a trip to the line he would convert as the run came to a close.

All of that happened, Duffie said, when the Cats (4-0, 1-0 region) began to play their style of basketball.

“They went to a 1-3-1 halfcourt trap and when they first went to it, we didn’t do a good job adjusting,” Duffie said. “But we took a timeout, pointed out a couple things and, next thing you know, we started doing it right. We got layup after layup from Ryan and Daniel and the kids did a good job getting the ball to them.”

The Cats took the lead for good with 1:39 remaining in the first half on a 3-pointer from Alex McArthur — he finished with eight points — and led 29-25 at halftime, but the overall performance to that point left Duffie wanting more.

“For whatever reason, we were really lethargic and playing Ridgeland’s game,” Duffie said. “That’s what they needed us to do. But in the seond half we got a lot more pressure and scrambled them up a lot more and made them run up and down the floor. And that plays to our strengths.”

Dalton pushed its lead to 10 midway through the third, but a 7-0 run that bridged into the fourth helped Ridgeland trim it to three before Tinson and the Cats exploded.

The Cats also shot well from the free throw line, finishing 18-of-21.

Ridgeland (3-2, 0-1) had a trio of scorers in double figures: Nichols Nicholas (13), Nigel Nicholas (12) and Mike Bowman (11).

Dalton 43, Ridgeland 28: With their depth tested earlier in the game than they might have expected, the Lady Cats adapted well for a win in their region opener.

Dalton (4-0, 1-0) was without starting post Lindsey Bramlett — the junior sprained her left ankle during warmups — and several Lady Cats found themselves limited by early foul trouble as four of Dalton’s five starters had at least two at halftime.

The bench kept the Lady Cats on top, though, and they never trailed after taking the lead midway through the first quarter.

One of the Lady Cats who came off the bench, senior Lindsey Mashburn, was one of three players to lead the team with eight points. Liz Coffey and Anna Young also had eight, while Jerrica Johnson finished with seven.

But McKinney was disappointed by his team’s shooting from the field and the free throw line, where the Lady Cats were 10-of-26.

“Defensively, you look at the scoreboard and even though we gave up some easy buckets, they only scored 28,” McKinney said. “But when you look at our team and the way we played, we’re not pleased as far as our effort.”

Dalton led 24-13 with two minutes left in the first half, but the Lady Panthers closed the gap to 24-20 a minute after halftime and made it three points with a minute remaining in the third quarter.

The Lady Panthers (2-3, 0-1) held the ball to set up a final shot in the period but came up empty, and Dalton got enough offense in the fourth to stretch the lead to 10 with 3:29 to play.

Following the game, McKinney was honored for his 100th victory leading Dalton. He hit the century mark with the Lady Cats’ last win, a 67-27 victory to win the Ridgeland tournament on Thanksgiving weekend.

“I didn’t win a single ballgame,” McKinney said. “There’s a lot of girls involved with that. I’m just thankful to have had the opportunity to be a part of it.”

Brittany Goforth led Ridgeland with 14 points.