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KINGSPORT—Sometimes, there’s just no justice in the way sporting events turn out.

That was the case Tuesday night at the Tribe Athletic Complex as underdog Morristown West took defending TSSAA 4A state champion Dobyns-Bennett right to the wire before the Indians pulled out a 61-58 victory in the semifinals of the Region 1-4A Tournament.

The Trojans, who were the fourth seed from District two, led most of the second half before the Indians took the lead with under two minutes left in the game and held on with a barrage of free throws down the stretch.

With the win, Dobyns-Bennett locked up a sub-state berth and will take on Sevier County, a 68-62 winner over Daniel Boone, in the finals on Thursday. The winner will play at home in the sub-state while the loser has to travel.

West turned in an outstanding effort on Tuesday with some great shooting and solid all-around play. However, the Trojans finally fell victim to some costly turnovers due to a very physical full court press by the home team. There were numerous occasions where it appeared there was a foul before the ball was lost but most of them were not called.

In fact that played a big role at the end as the Indians had only five fouls when Jonavan Gillespie hit a free throw for a three-point lead with 5.1 seconds remaining. West got the ball in and was fouled immediately at half-court leaving them just 2.6 on the clock.

However, the Trojans still got a pretty good shot as Ty Steisslinger launched an off-balance three from the left corner that hit the rim, bounded high into the air and fell away to end the Trojans’ season at 15-14.

But nothing should take away from the effort the Trojans gave. They outplayed the home team. They out-rebounded the home team. And, they outscored the home team from the floor but, even though it should have, it just didn’t add up to another upset victory.

West had made the semifinals by knocking off District One Tournament champion West Ridge on Saturday. That was the first region win for the Trojans since March 1, 2001. So it’s easy to see they didn’t have a lot of experience under the pressure of a regional semifinal.

Dante Oliver led the Indians’ victory with 21 points while Gillespie added 18 and Brady Stump 15.

Tops for the Trojans was Bereket Evans with 16. Tory House added a dozen while Steisslinger scored nine, Alden Oruglica eight, Jalen McCullough seven and Rylan King six.

The Trojans hit 22 of 48 field goal attempts for 45.8 percent including 9 of 18 three-point attempts. The winners were 22 of 51 for 43.1 percent and 5 of 18 from behind the arc.

House raked off nine rebounds to lead the Trojans to a 33-28 rebounding edge.

The difference came at the free throw line where Dobyns-Bennett made 12 of 20 to just 5 of 7 for West. The Indians hit 10 of 16 free throws in the fourth quarter.

“Sometimes things just don’t go your way,” said Trojans’ coach Joe Dobyns. “I really appreciate the effort the guys gave tonight. They’re hurting in there (the dressing room). They gave it all they had for 32 minutes and that’s all I asked them to do.

“I told them to give it all you’ve got and see how things shake out. And we did that. We had a chance to win at the end. I couldn’t be more proud of their effort.”

Dobyns went on to say, “I thought we really grew as a team the last couple of games in this tournament. They played well and turned things around for us and got things going in the right direction.

“We did some things that hadn’t been done in a long time at West High.

“Our seniors were great and our young kids need to see that and keep things going in the right direction.”

Dobyns said, “I thought we played great all night. Things just didn’t go our way down the stretch and sometimes that’s just how things go. That was a very good basketball team we played and they’ve been in these situations many, many times.

“The only way we can get that experience is by doing the things we’ve done in the last two games and earn it.

“This one hurts tonight, but, hopefully, it’ll pay off in the future.”

DB coach Chris Poore said, “This time of year, you have to be playing your best and nobody right now was playing better than Morristown West. I’ve watched film of them for days and they have a tremendous team.

“Tonight, they made shots which makes them unstoppable in a lot of ways,” Poore continued. “Luckily, our guys made enough plays down the stretch for us to win. I thought our experience really helped us tonight.

“At the very end I thought we kept our composure and they got a little bit shaky. But with that being said, that was a really, really good basketball team we beat. They gave us all we wanted tonight.”

The coach said having a foul to give at the end was important. “We used it to our advantage to the fact that we wanted to make sure they didn’t get any rhythm.

“But they still got a good look and almost hit a three that would have tied it.”

A short jumper by Oruglica gave the Trojans a 53-49 lead with 3:20 left in the game. Charlie McHugh hit a free throw for the winners and Gillespie drove for a basket that cut the lead to 53-52. Oliver stole the inbounds pass and was fouled.

Two free throws later, the Indians were in front by a point with 2:34 left. King hit a free throw to tie it before Steisslinger’s jumper put the Trojans back in front with 2:06 left.

Oliver hit one free throw before Gillespie converted a three-point on what probably should have been a charging call instead. That put DB in front 58-56 with 1:32 remaining. The Trojans turned the ball over and Oliver hit another free throw with 1:01 showing.

Steisslinger cashed in twice at the line to get West within a point at 59-58. But Dace Potts hit one free throw before Gillespie made the final one to set the stage for the frantic finish.

West trailed by as many as eight at 17-9 in the first quarter but got the lead down to 21-16 at the end of the period.

A couple of threes by Evans got West even at 24-24 and Oruglica hit a three to give the Trojans the lead at 27-26. Stump scored five points in the final two minutes of the half but Oruglica made another long one and Dobyns-Bennett’s lead was only 34-33 at intermission.

House and Steisslinger had back-to-back scores to get the Trojans in front early in the third quarter and they led by as many as five before Gillespie’s three got the home team within 47-45 at the final rest stop.