McGill-Toolen 67, Davidson 36: Yellow Jackets coast in 7A South Regional
Posted February 13, 2015
McGill-Toolen coach Phillip Murphy wasn’t thrilled with the way his team played in the first half against Davidson on Thursday in Dothan.
He felt a lot better 16 minutes later.
The sixth-ranked Yellow Jackets outscored the Warriors 38-15 in the second half on the way to an easy 67-36 victory in their Class 7A South Regional semifinal. It was McGill’s 10th win in a row and third in as many tries against Davidson this season.
“I thought the first half was about as sloppy a half as we have played all year,” Murphy said. “The second half was one of our best. We got after it on the boards and took advantage of our size. When we are getting a lot of touches in the paint, we are pretty good. That is what happened tonight.”
The Yellow Jackets (28-4) outrebounded Davidson 34-22, shot 63 percent from the floor in the second half (12 of 19) and got points from 12 different players. Logan Cooney led a balanced effort with 11 points. Rene Scott, Charles Ollis and Marlon Williams each had nine.
“They played hard for 32 minutes,” Davidson coach Delvin Powell said. “We talked the last two days about overcoming obstacles and matching their intensity. They really hurt us on the boards. We didn’t box out well, and Dozier kind of hammered us inside.”
McGill led just 29-21 at the half but scored the first six points of the third quarter and extended the margin to 44-28 entering the fourth. The Jackets held Davidson to single digits in points in three of the four quarters.
Jaylon Cheese led Davidson with nine points.
-- Star of the game: It could be a number of guys for McGill, but sophomore Marlon Williams seemed to make the biggest plays. His dunk ended the third quarter and his turn-around jumper opened the fourth.
-- By The Numbers: 60, percentage of shots McGill made from the field overall (24 of 40). … 5, number of shots Davidson made in the second half (on 20 attempts). … 3, combined 3-pointers in the game for both teams (McGill had 2, Davidson 1). … 22, average margin of victory for McGill in three games against Davidson (7-19) this year. The Jackets won the two regular-season games by an identical 62-45 margin. .
-- Quotable: “The difference was that we got a lot of good looks in the post,” Dozier said. “We came out in the second half and focused on our defense.”
“It has kind of been the story of our year,” Murphy said of his team’s balanced scoring on Thursday. “The four guys who led us today have led us most of the year, but we are a hard team to scout because teams really don’t know who to take away. Tonight, Marlon Williams – a sophomore – came out and made some huge plays.”
“I thought, on offense, we took a lot of quick shots today,” Powell said. “We couldn’t put it in the hole enough, and they were able to rebound and get out and run. I’m proud of our kids. No one expected us to be here. We’ve got a young team and, hopefully, we can learn from this.”
-- What’s next? McGill-Toolen will play No. 4 Theodore for the South Regional championship at 11 a.m. Tuesday. The teams haven’t played this year, but the Bobcats eliminated the Jackets in the Class 6A sub-regional round a year ago.
