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Atlanta trips White Oak in final

WHITE OAK — With host White Oak charging from behind, three Atlanta players combined for four free throws in the final 30 seconds, just enough to give the Rabbits a 52-46 victory in the championship game of the Dan Noll Christmas Classic Saturday at E.B. Carrington Gymnasium.
White Oak junior Trevor Coppedge had a chance to tie the game at 48 with 36.8 seconds left, but missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw opportunity. Atlanta's Casey Cook then made a free throw before Jatorian Linwood essentially put the game away, stealing the ball on White Oak's last possession of consequence and making two shots from the line after being fouled. Kendrick Henderson, the tournament's Most Valuable Player, iced the game for Atlanta with a free throw with 1.8 seconds left.
In one of the tournament's most compelling games, White Oak trailed throughout the fourth quarter, but not by much. The Roughnecks were down by as many as six points in the period, but never could pull within two as their outstanding perimeter shooting began to dull.
"Normally we shoot the ball better than that; we have to do that to play well," White Oak coach Ron Boyett said. "We're going to take a lot of threes, that's just part of our game."
The Roughnecks made nine 3-pointers in the contest, and scored 15 straight points over the second and third quarters from long distance. Atlanta had matched its biggest lead at 17-8 in the second quarter when Roughneck freshman Connor Sharp ignited a 12-0 run by hitting the first of four consecutive White Oak treys.
Carl Corman tied the game at 17 with a 3-pointer from the corner at the 1:42 mark in the second quarter, and Taylor Coppedge hit treys to close the first half and open the second, giving the Roughnecks their biggest lead of the night, 23-17.
Atlanta came right back, with Henderson knocking down a pair of free throws just over three minutes into the half to knot the score at 23. A Henderson trey as time expired helped the Rabbits close the third quarter on a 5-0 run, and gave them a 41-37 lead heading into the fourth.
Henderson finished with 19 points, while Cook had nine and Blake White had eight points and seven rebounds. The win improved Atlanta to 10-6 on the year.
Coppedge led White Oak with nine points, while Trevor Wait chipped in eight. Corman had seven points, but led White Oak on the defensive side, posting seven rebounds, four blocks and a steal. White Oak slips to 8-11.
"For most of our kids it's the first time they've played in a game of championship magnitude," Boyett said. "The best thing for us is we got some big-game experience. We held in there; they just kind of made the plays at the end."
Atlanta scored the game's first nine points and led 11-6 after the first quarter. The Roughnecks topped them 14-6 in the second period to lead 20-17 going into the locker room.
The second half belonged to Atlanta, though. Henderson and Cook combined for 18 points as the Rabbits outscored White Oak 24-17 in the third, before winning the fourth as well, 11-9.
Coppedge and Jackson McCurdy were named to the all-tournament team for White Oak, and Atlanta's Nico Collins also earned a spot.

 

Were free throws the most memorable part of the game? If they were not, why place them so high?

 

I see what you're saying. I guess I figured the FTs should go so high because they ultimately decided the game. Maybe the second graf could have read:

Jatorian Linwood essentially put the game away, stealing the ball on White Oak's last possession of consequence and making two shots from the line after being fouled. Kendrick Henderson, the tournament's Most Valuable Player, iced the game for Atlanta with a free throw with 1.8 seconds left. White Oak junior Trevor Coppedge had a chance to tie the game at 48 with 36.8 seconds left, but missed the front end of a one-and-one free throw opportunity.

 

I've seen plenty of foulfests at the end of tight games to where free throws were front and center in terms of deciding the outcome. Not the most exciting thing to watch, write or read but it's just the way it went down.

Sounds like there were no FG's at all down the stretch.

Maybe if I was insisting to lede with some more crowd-pleasing highlights, I might have done something along the lines of "Taylor Coppedge's perimeter put the Rabbits in a hole, but the Roughnecks proved their superiority shooting from a much shorter distance." Then go into the free throw blow-by-blow and take it from there.