The 3-pointers of Troy Hull helped to bring the Warriors back from sure defeat into a near win against Lake Village last Thursday afternoon in the first round of the state playoffs. The senior was playing his last game in a Warrior uniform. (Tribune photo/Dan Brawner) [Click to enlarge]

It hit midnight early for the Warriors as their Cinderella post season came to an end Thursday afternoon in the first round of the 3A state tournament in Cave City. But that loss didn't come before they gave Lake Village a scare they would not soon forget in a 68-67 thriller.

Lake Village (26-4), one of the favorites to take their game all the way to the finals in Hot Springs this week, appeared to have the contest well in hand early on when the Beavers' Larry Adkinson hit two quick three-pointers for a 6-0 lead in the first :30.

Ky Madden put the first points on the board for EPC (13-18) when he hit the first of two free throws moments later.

"We started off slow," said coach Josh Hill of his Warriors. "It took awhile for us to adjust to them. They are big, physical and very fast. And they shot the ball real well early."

By the time the midway point of the quarter rolled around, Lake Village had bulled out to a nine point lead, 17-8. Then the last two minutes of the quarter saw the Beavers go on a 6-1 run to end the period as it began increasing their lead to 11, 25-14.

At this point in the game, and even much later, it looked as if there was very little the Warriors could do to stop the Lake Village point barrage.

Even when the second period opened with Chris Davis scoring two and Troy Hull a trey to close the gap back to six, 25-19, the Beavers brought them back to reality with an eight-point run to go up 33-19.

They then followed that with a 6-1 run to take their biggest lead of the night, 39-20, with just 1:30 left in the half. Madden hit two quick buckets to end the period and close the lead back to 15, 39-24, but the final result of the game looked inevitable to everyone. To everyone but the Warriors, that is.

"Everyone had their heads down when they came into the locker room," continued Hill. "I told them that no one anywhere had expected us to get this far. We had gone way past anyone's expectations. So I told them to just relax and go out the second half and have fun. When we did that, we suddenly got on fire."

The fire began with Hull who came out and hit the first of five three-pointers he would have in the third quarter. Not rattled yet, the Beavers' Ronreco Mayberry quickly responded with a bucket. Madden and Adkinson traded buckets, followed by another Hull trey to cut the lead to 11, 43-32.

The quick burst then appeared to wane some as Lake Village put up four points to just one for EPC with a Davis charity shot. With 4:30 remaining in the quarter, the Beavers were back up by 14, 47-35. At that point, the fire began to blaze bright.

First Davis hit a bucket for a 47-35 tally. The for the next minute, the teams battled back and fourth with no one lighting the scoreboard. Finally, after the Beavers were called for walking, Hull sent a bomb to the bottom of the basket to cut the lead to nine, 47-38.

Adkinson and Melvin Crow pumped in four between them for Lake Village while Madden hit the back end of a two-shot charity try to push the lead back out, but then Hull struck again. With :20 remaining in the quarter the lead was once again nine, 51-42.

Hoping to hold for a final shot before the buzzer, the Beavers fell victim to an increasingly vicious Warrior defense and turned the ball over. Not willing to miss an opportunity, EPC was quickly down the floor and Hull hit his last trey of the night. And in the space of just more than a quarter, the warriors had gone from down 19 and out of the game to down by just six and rolling.

"Troy was just awesome," Hill said of the Warrior resurgence. "Especially in the third period, he got us back in it."

Crow opened the scoring for the Beavers with a bucket before Mike Medina got into the three-point parade to cut the lead to five, 53-48. Davis cut it to three briefly, but the Beavers responded with a three-pointer of their own to the lead back out to six, 56-50.

For the next four minutes, the two teams battled like a couple of heavyweights with neither making a great deal of headway. Then, as the clock moved to 2:30 left in the game, the Warriors were called for a technical. Adkinson missed the first of the two free shots, but rattled the second in. Then on the ensuing free possession, Mayberry hit another bucket to put the Beavers up by what seemed like a safe 10 points.

But then Davis hit a bucket and drew a foul from Mayberry, his fifth, and suddenly the fire began to rage.

First, the Beavers made another bad pass, it ended up in Madden's hands and he emulated Hull by launching a trey to cut the lead to 66-61 with 1:43 remaining.

Then, after they held the ball for :20, Davis stole the ball and passed it to Hull, who sank one of his rare two-point field goals on the night. With :59 remaining, the Warriors were within a trey, 66-63.

On the next Beaver possession, Hull got into the robbery business and went the distance to close the gap to one, 66-65, with :30 on the clock.

Lake Village determined to hold the ball the next possession and it became apparent that EPC would have to foul. So with 16.8 seconds remaining, Terrance Sykes went to the line for a one-and-one. He bounced the first shot off the rim. The Beavers rebounded, but in the fight for the ball, Madden drew the foul and the Warriors had their chance with :14 showing in the game.

A freshman who had moved up from leading the Junior Warriors to the 3A district championship two weeks ago, Madden "never played like a ninth grader throughout the district or regional tournaments," Hill said later.

And as he calmly dropped in both ends of his one-and-one shots to put the Warriors in front 67-66, he didn't look like a freshman either.

Enjoying their only lead of the game, the Warriors in their excitement and while trying to keep the Beavers from a last second shot, committed a foul against Adkinson. He, as calmly as Madden, put the Beavers in front to stay when he also sank both shots, effectively ending the game. He then actually ended the game and the Warriors' near-miracle season when he grabbed EPC's long, last-gasp inbounds pass.

"It was a real hard game," Hill said. "But I'm really proud of the way we came back in the game. No one expected us to be here and no one expected us to come back like this. It was almost a great win."

Hull led both teams with 23 points, followed by 22 for Madden. Davis also was in double figures with 10 while Brett Hardin had six, Medina three, Bucky Chamberlin two and Hunter Richmond one.

Adkinson led the Beavers with 21. Crow was close behind with 20 while Mayberry had 12.

"It was the kind of season that gives us something to build on for the future," concluded Hill of the Warriors' season. "Troy, Chris, Brett and the Medinas (twins Mike and Mark) all played their last game. It was a good group. Troy made more improvement from one season to the next than any player I've ever had and Brett was the most competitive player I've ever had on any team I've coached anywhere."