Hillsboro muscles past Dickson County 49-46 in state sectional

Hillsboro muscled its way into the TSSAA state tournament with a 49-46 win at Dickson County Monday night. The loss ends the Cougars’ season at 27-7 and concludes the coaching career of DCHS alumnus Kevin Tuck, who has led his alma mater for 15 years. Dickson County led for most of the game, ahead by eight at intermission 24-16. The Burros took their first lead of the game 33-31 on a pair of free throws with two minutes left in the third, but the Cougars finished the period with a Mitch Mersman three-pointer and a layup from JeQuan Lewis to lead 36-33 with a quarter to go. Tyler Spicer drained a three-pointer with 1:18 left to give Dickson County its last lead of the night at 46-45. But a jumper by Kindravious Webster put Hillsboro ahead with 18 seconds remaining and when the Cougars missed a trey, Webster was fouled on the rebound and sank both foul shots with four seconds left to ice the game, as a desperation three-pointer by Lewis at the buzzer was off the mark. Webster led Hillsboro with 12 points. Caleb Tuck was tops for Dickson County with 17 while Lewis was held to half of his scoring average at 12 and finished his DCHS career with a school-record 2,013 points. It was the sixth time the Cougars have had a shot at going to the state tournament in the school’s 41-year history and they have come up short each time.