HANCEVILLE, Ala. – No. 10 Meek tipped off its Northwest Regional Semifinal matchup against Covenant Christian Saturday night and after taking a 28-17 lead in the first half, the top-ranked Eagles outscored the Tigers 21-8 in the second half to pull away and claim a 49-25 win and a spot in the Elite Eight.
The Eagles got off to a fast start, building a 9-0 lead early in the opening period. Dylan Dunagan laid one in to stop the run and get the Tigers on the board with around five minutes remaining in the first but a 5-0 run by the Eagles gave them a 14-2 lead. Ethan Barton drained a three with just over a minute remaining in the first quarter to trim the lead to 14-5 and Jarrett Benson scored a pair of baskets in the final minute of the quarter to cut the lead to 16-9 going into the second.
Jacob Smith scored early in the second quarter to make it a 20-11 game and he split a pair of free throws later in the period to make it 23-12. Braxton Dickerson buried a three-pointer to trim the lead to 10 with a little over a minute to play in the first half and after the Eagles responded with a three on the other end, Smith laid another one in to cut the lead to 28-17 at the halftime break.
Covenant Christian extended its lead to 34-17 midway through the third quarter and the Tigers weren’t able to put any points on the board until a Benson basket made it a 39-19 game with less than a minute remaining in the period. Those were the final points of the third and Meek went into the final frame trailing by 20.
Smith split a pair of free throws to chip away at the lead early in the fourth quarter, but the Eagles were able to take a 42-20 lead with just over four minutes to play. Barton sank a pair of free throws and Dickerson drilled another three to make it a 46-25 game with less than two minutes on the clock but that was as close as the Tigers could get and Covenant Christian went on to win it 49-25.
Benson, Smith and Dickerson each finished with six points for Meek in the loss. Barton scored five and Dunagan added two.
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