Pioneers rally behind home crowd to beat city rival Hilltoppers

Of all the stats recorded in Tuesday night’s Seminole District boys basketball clash between cross-town rivals E.C. Glass and Heritage, one stood out for Hilltoppers coach Roy Roberson and another for Pioneers coach Dan Stephens.

"We gave up 17 offensive rebounds tonight, which is really the only stat that matters," Roberson said after the Pioneers’ 70-62 victory before a packed Heritage Field House crowd, avenging an early-season loss at Glass. "That’s the absolute reason that we lost the game."

If the Pioneers’ stats were accurate, they boasted a 2.67 assist-to-turnover ratio.

"Sixteen assists to six turnovers is a really high ratio for us," Stephens said. "We got really good guard play tonight from Justen Joyner and Malik Tyree, who combined for seven steals [to go with their 25 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds]. They created a little havoc out of our zone with their deflections and even combined for three of our six blocked shots.

"It was a total team effort, and come tournament time, that’s how you want to be playing," he added.

Heritage (12-9, 8-4 Seminole) closes out its regular season on a four-game winning streak, and will have the opportunity to host Glass (10-11, 7-4) again on Monday in the first round of the Seminole District tournament.

"We just wanted to have the momentum going into the district tournament game," Jeremy Hill said. "We had to just slow it down, take good shot selection and crash the boards."

If regular-season champion Amherst beats Jefferson Forest in the other Division 4 opener on Monday, the winner of the rematch between the Hilltoppers and Pioneers will advance to the Region III, Division 4, playoffs.

"The season has played out the way we’d like it to down the stretch," Stephens said. "It could end quickly or it could go on for a while. There’s an urgency now with everything we do. I think our kids understand they’ve got to carry that urgency into every practice and every game as well."

Heritage will again have home-court advantage as the host of the Division 4 semifinals. The Pioneers played up to their boisterous home fans on Tuesday.

"It was a senior night crowd and a great atmosphere for cross-town rivals," Roberson said. "They’re supposed to be able to protect and defend their home court and they did a good job of defending it tonight."

Early on, Joyner made a steal and sent a pass into Hill who missed a jam, but Joyner was there for the putback that tied it at 7-7.

Hill, who paced the Pioneers with 21 points, later hit back-to-back 3-pointers to break open a 13-13 tie for a 19-13 lead.

"Jeremy Hill came out and really made an impact on the offensive end," Stephens said. "We haven’t shot the ball well lately and it’s a lot easier to attack the zone when you can hit those outside shots."

"I’ve been working on my jumpshot all week," Hill added.

Glass senior Najee Culver led all scorers with 23 points.

"We had some breakdowns in trying to guard him, but he’s a playmaker and he made it really tough for us tonight," Stephens said of Culver, who took an inbounds pass in the back court and swished a running eight-footer in the center of the lane at the third-quarter buzzer, tying the game at 43.

Culver picked up his fourth foul early and fouled out late in the fourth quarter.

With Heritage center Trey Grooms in foul trouble, Malcolm Davis came off the bench and played a lot of quality minutes for the Pioneers, holding his own inside against the much taller Glass center Karl Overstreet (seven points).

Quinten Trent’s long 3-pointer from the left wing gave Heritage the lead for good at 48-45 and it extended it to 52-45 on Tyree’s loose ball steal and breakaway dunk with 5:50 to play.

"We only turned it over 13 times and we only had five turnovers in the second half, but two of those came during a critical stretch," Roberson said.