6A boys South Regional: Balanced Blount outlasts Daphne behind 'X-factor' Diggs

  • 02/18 - 10:30 AM Boys BasketballFinal
    Daphne 49
    Blount 58
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DOTHAN, Alabama -- Blount coach Jeffery Pope usually expects a handful of points and a few key rebounds from Cameron Diggs.

He gave the Leopards a lot more Tuesday.

Daphne's Bradley Nero (25) and Kareem Brown pressure Blount's Divine Myles on Tuesday. (Max Oden | preps@al.com)

The 6-foot-10 sophomore had 12 points on 6-of-10 shooting as the third-ranked Leopards outlasted a gritty Daphne team 58-49 in a Class 6A South Regional semifinal at the Dothan Civic Center.

"I thought he was our x-factor today," Pope said. "Cameron is just a sophomore. He didn't get to play last year. He's only 16 so you really don't know what guys that age might give you. Normally, he would give us six or eight points and a bunch of rebounds. We needed all his points today."

Blount (25-3) advances to its second straight South Regional final. The Leopards will play the Theodore-Dothan winner in the final at 10:40 a.m. Friday. Daphne finished at 20-11.

"Sometimes you have games where you are unhappy with the way you played," Trojans' coach Cedric Yelding said. "I can't say that today. I thought we fought hard the whole game. I'm sad to lose these eight seniors, but I was proud of our effort."

Blount controlled most of the game. Daphne's only lead came at 7-5 in the first quarter on Bradley Nero's three-pointer. He finished with a game-high 19 points for the Trojans.

The Leopards led 11-7 after one and 25-19 at the half. They then opened the third quarter with an 11-5 run to open their biggest lead, 36-24, on a Diggs' layup with 3:14 left in the quarter.

"I told our guys at halftime that Daphne was going to make a run, to never let our guard down," Pope said. "In some games this year, they had scored like seven points in the second quarter, then 25 or 30 in the third. So the key for us was just to stay with it and not lose our focus."

The Trojans did indeed make a run. In fact, they tied the game at 41-41 with 6:46 remaining after a 17-5 spurt. C.J. Yelding's two free throws capped the charge.

Daphne's Bradley Nero led all scorers on Tuesday with 19 points. (Max Oden | preps@al.com)

"We really didn't change anything," coach Yelding said. "We've been resilient all year. This team never quits. We believe the way we play defense, we always have a chance."

However, Daphne could never retake the lead.

Blount responded with layups by Antonio Chapman and Demetrius Caldwell and a pair of free throws by Divine Myles and suddenly led 47-41 with 4:30 left. Daphne cut the lead to three once more (47-44) on Yelding's three-point play with 4:16 left, but Blount closed with a 11-5 spurt to grab the win.

"I was a little nervous coming into the game," Diggs said. "I thought I missed some shots early I should have made. But I settled in, and I'm just glad we are moving on."

Myles led four Blount players in double figures with 16. Chapman finished with 12 points, while Reginald Harbin had 10 points and eight rebounds.

Devonte Young was Daphne's only other player in double figures with 12. Yelding finished with nine.

"That was a difference for us," coach Yelding said. "We usually have three to five guys in double figures. Today, we only had two. We also made too many of what I would call double mistakes where we would take a quick shot and then not get back on defense. But, again, I thought our effort was good. Proud of our guys."

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