Timing is everything.
And the Obion County Central boys couldn’t have picked a worse time to have one of their worst shooting nights of the season.
The Rebels hit just 20-of-65 field goals and saw their season end in a 62-52 loss at Haywood in the District 13AA quarterfinals Tuesday night.
Central ends its season at 14-14, breaking a three-year stretch of losing records.
Third-seeded Haywood improved to 21-8 and will play No. 2 Crockett County (21-7) in the second of two semifinals Friday night at Dyersburg High School. No. 1 Westview (26-4) faces fourth-seeded Ripley (14-10) in the 6:30 opener.
Despite its shooting woes Tuesday, six-seeded OC trailed by just two points entering the fourth quarter, 44-42.
The Rebels had stormed back from a 12-point deficit in the third period when Shaw Logan made a pair of 3-pointers and Obion Central had outscored the host club 15-9 over an eight-minute stretch.
Central could never quite get over the hump, though, outscored 18-10 in the final frame.
“We played hard; we just couldn’t make a shot,” OC head coach Bill Kail said. “We missed some easy shots, and we just couldn’t get the ball to go in the hole.
“No excuses, we had good looks. The lighting in the gym is a little different, but we had turned off half the lights in our gym while practicing for the game to try to simulate theirs.”
Zack King led the Rebs with 12 points and also hauled down 10 rebounds for a double-double in his final game in an OCCHS uniform. Logan finished with 11, while James Mays, a transfer from Union City who just became eligible on Tuesday, played well and scored nine.
The contest was the last for nine seniors, including King, Logan, Mike Klein, Eric Torres, Coleman Dunn, Bryan Morris, Brett Scillion, Thomas Smith and Daniel Garcia.
Morris ended up with four points and fell five shy of hitting 1,000 for his career.

Published in The Messenger 2.13.13