Hebron Christian cruises past White County in wire-to-wire win

CLEVELAND, GEORGIA – On paper, it was an upset, a four seed over a No. 1 seed.

But in reality, the game was never in doubt for Hebron Christian Academy, which traveled to White County on Wednesday for its first round playoff victory over the Warriors, 74-55.

Hebron led wire-to-wire, starting the game on a 12-4 run and never looking back. 

“We knew what we were capable of doing,” Hebron head coach Derrick Mason said. “We played a tough schedule this year and our performance hasn’t been based off of wins and losses, but the way we’ve played. That was our primary focus coming into tonight’s game, just playing the game the way it’s supposed to be played. Defensively with tenacity, offensively with selflessness and I thought we did a decent job of that….Great atmosphere and a well-coached team from White County. We were just the better team tonight and I’m definitely proud of my guys.”

Now the Lions are a win away from making history, hoping to advance to the Elite 8 for the first time in program history. 

Hebron got off to a quick start, seeing all five starters get into the scorebook early, led by Justin Bartleson, who had seven points in the first quarter. The Lions were especially dangerous from three-point range, establishing that right out of the gate with four threes in the first quarter. 

Mason said that’s just a product of the hard work his guys have done all year long.

“I’m not surprised because I see the behind the scenes,” he said. “They put in work. 6 a.m's, during practice, after practice, they just put in the work, so I’m not surprised by the percentage that we shot. And there were some timely threes too.”

Hebron’s high-volume scoring from deep not only put up a lot of points, but often came at back-breaking times that killed whatever momentum the Warriors had managed to build. 

“I thought across the board we shot the ball pretty well,” Mason said. “I was pleased with the field goal percentage and the shot selection that we had early on. We have to do a better job of closing out late, but as a unit offensively I thought we performed very well.”

Hebron had three Lions in double figures, with MaTaj Glover leading the way with 17 points off five threes. Blake Wilson had 16 and Justin Bartleson had 13. All in all, the Lions got contributions from seven different scorers en route to a 74-point performance. 

For White County, the bulk of the scoring, expectedly, came from senior Jadon Yeh who wasn’t willing to go down without a fight. Yeh scored 28 in what would end up being his last game donning the Warriors’ navy and white including a 12-point fourth quarter to try and bring his team back. Mason said the senior guard was quite the challenge to scheme for in the days leading up to the game and didn’t disappoint once the game started.

“Yeh is a tough kid. It took me a long time to come up with how we were going to defend him,” he said. “He’s a very good player. I love the way he plays, his poise, the way he carries himself, how he plays the game. He’s going to have an amazing college career and Coach [Robbie Bailey] has done a really good job here maximizing his talent.”

Now, Hebron looks ahead to a second round match-up with Douglass High School, who beat Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe 61-52 on Wednesday, but not before taking a moment to enjoy what the team has already accomplished, Mason says.

“This is a game that we play and enjoy, I want the guys to take an opportunity to enjoy this moment,” he said. “We’re on target to make history at this school, so just enjoy this moment, enjoy this time with each other and we’ll get back at it tomorrow. Our whole approach is to get one percent better every day. Valuing the marginal games is how we look at it. So we won today, now let’s win tomorrow and then we’ll worry about who we have next tomorrow.”

With his team just one win away from going further than any boys basketball team in Hebron Christian history, Mason feels like his team is hitting its stride at the right time.“Every coach wants to be peaking at the right time and it’s difficult to do,” he said. “No one is a master at it, but we’re right on schedule. We’re playing some of the best basketball that we’ve played all year at this time, which is perfect.”