It's a lock

Junior Tyler Poole scored 16 of his game-high 21 points in the second half on Wednesday night, leading Hickory High's 64-50 win over Alexander Central that clinched at least a share of a conference basketball title.

Hickory (18-2, 9-0) put the game away in the third quarter with 15 unanswered points to pull three games up in the loss column over second-place Hibriten (3A) and third-place Watauga (4A) with three Northwestern 3A-4A games to go.

Since Hickory has swept Hibriten and St. Stephens and Fred T. Foard can't tie Hickory in the standings, the Red Tornadoes have locked up the league's No. 1 3A bid into the state playoffs.

Alexander Central dropped to 12-8, 3-5 and is in fifth place.

Poole said his shots started falling and his rebounding improved in the second half of Wednesday night's victory.

With the game tied at 26 with six minutes, 53 seconds left in the third quarter, the Red Tornadoes broke it open with a stingy defense and the play of Poole.

Hickory forced seven turnovers in that stretch worth eight points, and Poole had nine points during the run.

"In the second half, we were able to finally to turn them over, which we were unsuccessful in that in the first half," said Hickory head coach Shawn Johnson. "That was the difference in the game."

Hickory outscored Alexander Central 17-9 in the third quarter. The Red Tornadoes made five of seven field goals and six of seven free throws in the quarter.

"We didn't take care of the basketball in that stretch, and that was the difference in the game," said Alexander Central head coach Ed Wills. "With us it's always you have to take care of the ball.

"And anytime you play against Hickory, if you turn the ball over you're in trouble and they did tonight."

From that point, the closest the Cougars got was within nine points on a 3-pointer from the left wing by Ben Rogers with 2:54 to play.

Hickory responded with six unanswered points to push the lead to 59-44 when Fearious Anderson hit one of two free throws.

"It was hard-fought game," said Wills. "With the layoff from the recent weather, I don't think either of us knew what to expect.

"They (Hickory) made some big plays when they needed too in both the first half and second half.

"We got the game back to even and they made a run and then we got it into single digits late and they made a final run."

Hickory had three critical runs, of 11-0, 15-0 and 9-0.

Alexander Central opened the game scoring the first four points, but Hickory responded with its first run, of 11 straight points, for an 11-4 lead on a three-point play by Denzel Dillingham with 2:43 left in the first quarter.

Alexander Central's most productive spurt came in the final stages of the first half and opening minutes of the second half with 10 unanswered points. That pulled the Cougars even at 26-all with 6:53 remaining in the third quarter on a basket in the paint by Jason Harbert.

Four players scored in that stretch, led by Rogers with four of his team-high 15 points.

"We have a lot of respect for Alexander Central and knew that they would come out and give us their best shot," said Johnson. "They had a good game plan and did a lot of things to us to slow us down."

While Poole was the lone Hickory player in double figures, 11 of the 12 players scored.

HICKORY 66, ALEXANDER CENTRAL 24

Hickory's girls put the game early in the first quarter.

The Red Tornadoes (17-3, 6-2) outscored the Cougars 19-0 over the final six minutes of the first quarter to lead 23-4.

The most productive quarter for the Cougars (6-14, 2-6) was the third with nine points.

Alexander Central was held to no field goals in the first quarter, and connected on its first field goal with 7:23 remaining in the second quarter on a jumper by Cortlin Hartness.

Jada Payne led Hickory with a game-high 20 points, followed by Hillary Sigmon and Andrea Miller with 15 apiece and Shannon Brown with 10.

Payne had 20 or more for the third straight game and for the ninth time this season. She has hit double figures 19 times this year.

Sigmon went down with 17 seconds remaining in the third quarter with an injured right ankle and didn't return.

Chelsea Brown led Alexander Central, which had won three straight games, with nine points.