Stratford Too Strong For Tyner In State Opener

Spartans Race To 26-5 Lead In First En Route To 78-55 Victory Over Rams

  • Thursday, March 15, 2018
  • John Hunt
Tyner's Solomon Bridgeman (10) puts up a shot over Stratford's Kevante Boyd The Spartans (25-6) slammed the Rams (20-11), 78-55, in a TSSAA Class 2A quarterfinal game played Thursday night at MTSU's Murphy Center.
Tyner's Solomon Bridgeman (10) puts up a shot over Stratford's Kevante Boyd The Spartans (25-6) slammed the Rams (20-11), 78-55, in a TSSAA Class 2A quarterfinal game played Thursday night at MTSU's Murphy Center.
photo by Dennis Norwood

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – The Tyner Rams have been playing pretty good basketball in recent weeks, but they ran into a team just a little bit better here in the opening round of the Bluecross State Championship basketball tournament.

The Stratford Spartans got off to a great start and that was more than enough to propel them to a 78-55 victory at MTSU’s Murphy Center.

Stratford is now 25-6 following Thursday’s win and will face Fulton in Friday’s second semifinal game.  The Falcons advanced with a 61-52 comeback win over Jackson South Side.

The Spartans scored four points in the blink of an eye at the start and had a 10-0 lead before Javon Craddock’s 3 with 4:52 left in the first quarter broke the ice for the Rams.

Stratford’s onslaught continued as they finished the quarter on a 16-2 run for a commanding 26-5 lead following the opening eight minutes.

The Rams never recovered.

“I’m just a little bit disappointed as we just didn’t have much of a sense of urgency,” said Tyner’s first-year coach E’Jay Ward after his team’s season ended at 20-11.

“We got to the spot we wanted by being here, so this just adds fuel to our fire to get back next year.  We dug ourselves a deep hole at the start and it’s tough to win games after a start like that.

“You have to be able to rebound to win and we didn’t do a good job there either.  At some point, we had to swallow our pride, but I thought we played hard despite being behind so far.  Leaving Brainerd to take this job was a tough decision for me personally, but working with these guys has been a great experience.

“We can only build from this experience and I fully expect us to be back here next year,” Ward added,

Stratford coach Romie Reed said in his post-game comments that it had been more than a week since they had last played.  The Spartans were chomping at the bit when the game finally started.

“We jumped on Fairview early in the Sectional round, but we had to calm down a little as we tend to get too excited at times,” Reed said with a smile.

“It was nice to get the big lead and it was huge for us to keep it at the start of the second half, but there’s still some little stuff we need to clean up.

“That was an amazing first quarter.  It’s been a week and a half since we played, so we came out ready to play as we were itching to get on the floor.  We shot the ball well in warmups, so our shooting in the first half was right on time.

“All of these guys are competitive, so I know how they react most of the time,” he added.

While the Spartans got off to that incredible start by hitting 11 of 15 shots from the field (73 percent) in the first quarter, Tyner found the mark a little better in the second stanza and actually outscored Stratford 25-21 in the period.

Five straight points, including a 3 from Michael Little with 1:40 showing before the break allowed Tyner to get with 40-29, but five straight points from Ivan Buford and a late putback by Jahari Reed stretched the lead to 17 at the break.

The difference was 47-30 at the half.  The game had not been decided at that point, but the Rams needed a good start in the third quarter to have a chance and it never materialized.

The Spartans started the second half on a 10-0 run to remove any doubt of a Tyner comeback and the difference was 65-36 when the fourth quarter began.

Javien Elston nailed three straight 3s to start the final stanza to get the Rams within 20, but the game was all but decided at that point as subs from both teams played the rest of the way.

Michael Wallace scored 18 points as Stratford placed five players in double figures.

Kevonte Boyd and Reed were next with 14 points apiece while Buford finished with a dozen and Juwon Carpenter 11.

Javon Craddock was the leading scorer for Tyner with 12 points.  Marquis Hinton had 11 before fouling out late.  Solomon Bridgeman and Javien Elston both finished with nine.

Stratford also had a 39-30 rebounding edge as Carpenter and Boyd both had eight each. Bridgeman was tops for Tyner with five.

While Stratford shot 66.7 percent from the field in the first half after hitting 18 of 27 shots, the Spartans ended up at 53.7 percent on 29 of 54. 

Tyner finished at 37 percent on 17 of 46 after a dismal start of two for 10 in the first quarter.

TYNER  5  25 6  19 – 55

STRATFORD  26  21  18  13  --  78

TYNER (55) – Je. Elston 2, Craddock 12, Little 3, Bridgeman 9, Grace 1, Hinton 11, Bowens, Ja. Elston 9, Favors, Gladden, Lattimore, Halfacre 2, Timmons 2, Sturkey 4.

STRATFORD (78) – Carpenter 11, Reed 14, Buford 12, Boyd 14, Wallace 18, Windrow 3, Coleman 2, Suggs, Clendening, Graham, Gaddes, Jones 4, Lilley-Sneed, Owen.

3-POINT GOALS – Tyner 6-23 (Craddock 2-9, Little 1-5, Hinton 0-3, Ja. Elston 3-4, Favors 0-1, Lattimore 0-1); Stratford 4-14 (Carpenter 1-2, Reed 1-4, Buford 1-1, Boyd 1-3, Wallace 0-1, Suggs 0-1, Clendening, Owen 0-1).

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)

Javon Craddock (2) of Tyner shoots over a Stratford defender during a Class 2A state tournament game Thursday night at MTSU's Murphy Center. The Spartans bested the Rams, 78-55.
Javon Craddock (2) of Tyner shoots over a Stratford defender during a Class 2A state tournament game Thursday night at MTSU's Murphy Center. The Spartans bested the Rams, 78-55.
photo by Dennis Norwood
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