YELLOW SUCKER II: Redbirds win district rematch with Van Buren to advance to final

VAN BUREN — For the second time this year, the East Carter Redbirds and Van Buren Bulldogs faced off with a trophy on the line.

Back in January, it was the Yellow Sucker Trophy, the annual traveling trophy in the Carter County rivalry between the two schools. Wednesday night, it was a shot to play for the MSHSAA Class 2 District 2 championship.

East Carter won the first meeting between the two schools in January, and the Redbirds also defeated Van Buren 51-42 Wednesday night.

The Redbirds will play Summersville for the district championship Friday night after the third-seeded Wildcats beat Ellington 71-50 in Wednesday’s other semifinal.

After receiving a bye to the semifinals, East Carter (12-12) seemed fresh and ready to play, and it showed.

“I’m very proud of this team,” East Carter coach Jordan Penn said. “This is a big rivalry game for us, and we haven’t been playing well lately — so to come out and have some good stuff happen for us is kind of got us moving in the right direction. All year long, we’ve fed off our defense, and when we’re getting stops, it gives us the energy to execute offensively.”

Both teams started off strong with some intense back-and-forth scoring, and with Van Buren having a homecourt advantage, they utilized the crowd’s energy by taking a quick 16-10 lead over East Carter.

Coming in as the bottom seed, Van Buren (9-14) quickly set the tone that seeding didn’t matter once the Bulldogs stepped on the court. With solid ball movement, Van Buren managed to get clean shots, and its hustle under the rim led to many second-chance shots.

Though still trying to find a rhythm, East Carter made enough plays to keep the gap close. The Bulldogs led for most of the second quarter until a quick run from East Cater left them trailing by just one point (26-25) heading into halftime.

The last five minutes of the third period is when all the momentum shifted over to East Carter as the Redbirds went on an 8-0 run, getting to the basket with ease, and capitalizing off turnovers from Van Buren.

Starting the fourth with a 40-32 lead, East Carter needed to keep striking while the iron was hot because Van Buren wouldn’t give up. With a chance to get back in the game, Van Buren struggled to secure the ball or make stops, and East Carter continued to thrive off of Bulldogs’ miscues.

After extending the lead from trips to the free throw line, East Carter quickly put a comeback story for Van Buren to rest and landed a spot in the district championship.

Senior Kasen McCarty led the Redbirds with 23 points and pulled down eight rebounds. His energy inside the paint helped his team secure the win.

“I felt really good about this win and happy we were able to pull away,” McCarty said. “I just love to see my teammates play well together and credit to coach Penn because he did an awesome job.”

McCarty said his game plan against Van Buren was to keep the pressure inside the post and not allow the adversity of the game to control his emotions.

Senior Micah Thompson added 11 points for East Carter, while junior David Wiley chipped in with 10.

Holden Hills paced Van Buren with 11 points, while Caleb Ricker had 10.

With one win between the Redbirds and a district championship, Penn said there’s only one key to getting the title.

“Defense is key for us,” Penn said. “As long as we keep guarding, we’ll be in good shape no matter who we face. This team has been finding some new things about ourselves in the last week, so I’m excited for them to get to play, but you never know what can happen in a district championship game, so we’re just going to come out and give it our best.”

Summersville 71, Ellington 50

In Wednesday’s other semifinal, the No. 3 Wildcats (13-14) pulled the upset, earning an impressive win over second-seeded Ellington.

Colby Hedrick paced Ellington with 19 points, while Ralon Morrissey had 15.

Garrin Greear led Summersville with 19 points, while Andrew Buschmann added 16, Josh Prisco had 13 and Tristan Duncan finished with 12.