Gosnell clinches state berth with upset of Tuckerman

MANILA – The Gosnell Pirates have been faced with two win-or-go home scenarios this postseason. The first was the 3A-3 District Tournament against Manila. The second was in the quarterfinals of the Class 3 Region 2 Tournament where they drew one-seed Tuckerman.

And for the second time in one week, the Pirates accomplished the mission.

After defeating Manila in the opener of the district to earn a spot in the region, the Pirates upset Tuckerman, 65-56, to clinch its first state berth since 2019-20.

Gosnell’s Cam Williams looks for a path to the basket during Wednesday night’s regional matchup with Tuckerman, the number one seed from the 3A-2 Conference. The four-seed Pirates pulled the upset and earned their first berth in the state tournament since the 2019-2020 season. (Game Photos By David Pierce)

“It’s huge,” said Gosnell head coach Corbin Clark who emerged from the postgame locker room wet from a celebratory water soaking from his players. “We came in here five-six years ago and we kind of struggled, but last year I felt like we got on solid footing.

“We didn’t have the early season that we would have liked but everyone wants to be playing their best basketball at the end of the year. And I truly feel like that’s what we’re doing right now.”

Tuckerman (25-13) entered the game fresh off claiming the 3A-2 District crown but ran into this opportunistic Pirate team prepared with a solid defensive game plan.

“We knew they would shoot a lot of threes because there so guard-oriented,” explained Clark. “Only trouble we had is when we didn’t contain penetration or we allowed them to get the ball to the high post. When we kept the ball out of the middle of the floor we did a pretty good job defensively.”

Gosnell, which had led by as many as 12 points in the third quarter, ran into that trouble as the clock drifted under two minutes to play in the game.

Leading 55-47 with 2:21 to go, Gosnell allowed three-pointers on three straight Tuckerman possessions. Those nine points were sandwiched around a Marcus Anderson basket and a Cam Williams hoop. The Pirates lead had been trimmed to 59-56 with :43 left.

“I felt like the only reason (Tuckerman) went on a run late was they were beating us on the offensive board,” said Clark. “Rebounding and continuing to get stops was the message (to my team). Because on the other end you know they’re going to have to foul.

“We showed some toughness tonight that we didn’t early in the season,” he added.

Out of a timeout, the freshman point guard Anderson easily broke the Tuckerman press and indeed, the Bulldogs were forced to foul.

Anderson calmly sank both free throws to extend the lead to five points.

“Marcus’s only weakness is sometimes he tries to do too much,” said Clark of his dynamic but youthful guard. “He played within himself tonight. He made good decisions and had good shot selection. I thought he played like a grown man tonight.”

Anderson was also tasked with defending Tuckerman’s Amare Neal, presumably one of the best guards in the state. Neal had 13 points but was plagued by foul trouble. He went to the bench with four fouls with 1:51 left in the third quarter.

“It was big turning point,” said Clark of Neal’s fourth foul. “When he picked up his third, we decided to go four low and isolate him on Marcus. And Marcus drew the foul. It was huge getting (Neal) off the floor.”

His exit prompted a 7-0 run from Gosnell and that’s when the Pirates enjoyed their biggest advantage at 45-33 before the late Bulldog run.

“I’ve been a head coach eight years and been in a lot of games but this is a memorable night,” said Clark. “When you come in and try to rebuild a program, everybody dreams of going to a state tournament. And we were able to accomplish that.”

Anderson led all scorers with 22 points while grabbing five rebounds, and dishing out five assists. Williams dropped in 14 points, collected five rebounds, and blocked a shot. Rylan Jenkins added 12.

Tuckerman, which fired up 41 3-pointers while hitting just 10, was paced by Elijah Alcorn’s 21 points. Waylon Tackett scored 15.