Pickens County downs Meek to advance to regional semifinal

HANCEVILLE - Pickens County was able to withstand a scoring barrage by Meek due Payton Key and Caleb Aaron last Tuesday night to win 85-60 and advance to the northwest regional semifinals in Hanceville. Key finished the game with 35 points, while Aaron added 18, as the two career 1,000-point accounted for 53 of Meek’s 60 points. The Tornadoes would use a stingy full-court press, however, to pull away and win comfortably.
Pickens took an early 5-0 lead on the Tigers, as Jawan Petty made a jump shot, followed by a three by Isaiah Stevenson. Meek’s Key would then embark on a scoring barrage, hitting a long jumper, followed by three consecutive three-pointers to put the Tigers in front 11-10 with 4:53 remaining in the first quarter. Key’s fourth three-point basket of the game then gave Meek a 16-10 lead with just over a minute left in the first quarter. Tramaine Prude would make a basket to cut the Tigers’ lead to 16-12, but Meek would hold an 18-12 advantage after the first quarter.
The Tornadoes opened the second quarter with a 13-0 run, capped by a Jadavian Johnson layup to give Pickens County a 25-18 lead midway through the second quarter. Caleb Aaron would halt the Tornado run with a three-point basket to make the score 25-21 with 2:49 left until halftime. Jah-Marien Latham made a layup and put Pickens County up 29-21 before a Key three-pointer cut the Tornado lead to 29-26 with 1:28 left until halftime. Pickens would lead Meek 35-30 at halftime.
Pickens County opened the third quarter with baskets by Petty and Dariun Doss to take a 39-30 lead, but Key was fouled on a three soon after and made all three foul shots to cut the lead to 41-35. Key drained another three-pointer with 3:36 left in the third quarter to make the score 44-38. After the Key triple, Pickens County would embark on a 20-0 run, capped by a four-point play by K.J. Byrd, as the Tornadoes led 64-38 after three quarters.
Aaron would nail back-to-back three-pointers in the fourth quarter to lead a 10-0 Meek run, making the score 64-48. Key was then called for a flagrant foul on Dariun Doss, as Doss was injured and Javion Belle came in and made 1-of-2 technical free-throws. The Tornadoes would score the next six points for a 70-48 lead and went on to win 85-60, as Latham polished off the win with two straight layups.
Key led all scorers with 35, while Aaron was the game’s second leading scorer with 18. Pickens County was led by Petty and E.J. Wallace, who scored 14 apiece, followed by Latham, Belle and Byrd, who each added eight points apiece.
Pickens County (13-8) advanced to face Covenant Christian in the northwest regional semifinal in Hanceville, while Meek ended their season with a record of 23-10.