Rebels are Runner Up in Tip Off Tournament

On the Saturday before the week of Thanksgiving, The Fannin County Rebels made their way to Gilmer County to take part in the 2018 Tip Off Tournament. Fannin battled for three days, playing one game each day, and went 2-1.

Fannin started off the tournament with a 59-54 win over Pickens County Dragons. The next day, Fannin was matched up to play the Gilmer County Bobcats to finish the night. Joel Kinser got the ball for Fannin from tip off. It was a fast paced, yet slow scoring quarter for both teams. Excellent defense was being played on each side of the court which resulted in the score to be tied 2-2 with 2:30 remaining in the first quarter. Rebel sophomore, Kaeden Twiggs, made a three point shot to take the lead over Gilmer with a score of 6-5. Twiggs and senior, Dahla Myers, led Fannin in scoring for the night with eleven points each due to their great shooting above the key.  Kinser had rebounds on the block for the Rebels where he contributed three points to their score. The teams played the second quarter with the same intensity they had for the first. Andre Bivens made a three point shot to put Fannin one point ahead of Gilmer until Nathaniel Garrison followed the trend by banking a three and extending Fannin’s lead to end the quarter with a score of 14-10. Garrison had a great night from the block and above the key where he put six points on the board for his team. To start the third quarter Fannin started to full court press. Cohutta Hyde had a great defensive game with tons of steals and blocks. Gilmer began to break the press and add more points to their score. Brady Martin stepped up his game and contributed six points to Fannin’s score from two, three point shots.The Bobcats reversed roles with Fannin where they took the lead at the end of third with a score of 33-29. It was a back and forth game as both teams kept stealing the lead from each other. With eleven seconds left, Gilmer pulled ahead with a foul shot and put the score at 42-40 to end the game.

The next day, the Rebels were ready to take on Hiwassee Dam for their last game of the tournament. Fannin did a great job of coming together and working as a team to pull off a win. They started with the ball and wasted no time to put points on the board. Kaeden Twiggs led Fannin in scoring for the night with sixteen points overall. Jalen Ingram was the go to guy on the block where he trailed right behind Twiggs with ten points for the night. Fannin managed to get the lead over the Eagles with a 13-11 score to end the first quarter. As Hiwassee Dam put a full court press into action, Fannin did a great job of breaking it with great passes up the court. Rebel senior, Dahla Myers, pushed the ball through the heavy defense and was able to put four points on the board. Myers also found Nathaniel Garrison at the end of the court where he put four points on the board. With 1:13 seconds left in the second quarter, Chase Culpepper made one of his two three point shots for the night and tied the game 36-36 just for the Eagles to pull ahead at the end of the quarter with a score of 39-38. Everyone was on the edge of their seats for the last quarter of the game. When one team would pull ahead, the other would turn around and claim the lead back. The Eagles started to foul which resulted in Andre Bivens to score one point for the Rebels. Gavin Myers and Joel Kinser were on the block for the Rebels where they each added four points to Fannin’s score. After Fannin’s game of playing hard and fast, they closed out the tournament with a 49-48 victory over Hiwassee Dam! By only losing one of their games, Fannin finished the tournament in second place. Cohutta Hyde, Kaeden Twiggs, and Joel Kinser were all recognized as Fannin’s All Tournament selection for their outstanding performance in the tournament overall!