Belpre’s Hunter Terrell (3) handles the ball as Southern’s Andre Chandler (0) defends during Friday’s game at Joe Garrett Court. (Photo by Jordan Holland)

BELPRE — Southern punched first and Belpre punched back, but it was the Tornadoes who made the plays down the stretch to secure a 56-49 win Friday at Joe Garrett Court.

The Tornadoes, who improved to 19-2 overall and finished a perfect 10-0 in the TVC Hocking, jumped out to a 20-6 lead after the first quarter, which has been their M.O.

“That’s their best quarter,” said Belpre head coach Ryan Leasure, whose team finished regular-season play at 10-11. “They’ve been getting out to a real good start. We stressed it. Unfortunately, they still came out and threw the first punch, but we didn’t lay down. We came back and played a great second quarter and kept playing hard. That’s a really good team. They’re going to have really good tournament success.”

The Golden Eagles regrouped and looked like a different team in the second period. Down 24-14, Belpre reeled off 12 straight points — eight coming from Malik Currie — with Haiden Tabler’s basket at the 1:10 mark putting the hosts ahead 26-24. Southern’s Andre Chandler silenced the crowd with a 3-pointer to put the Tornadoes up 27-26 at halftime, but Belpre was back in it.

“I’m a little disappointed that we had the nice, big lead at the end of the first quarter, and boy, we let them right back in it real quick,” said Southern head coach Jeff Caldwell, whose squad repeated as league champs.

Belpre’s Haiden Tabler, left, guards Southern’s Reed Brinager during Friday’s game at Joe Garrett Court. (Photo by Jordan Holland)

The Tornadoes woke up in the third. Deadlocked at 35-all at the midway point, Southern went on a 8-0 run to build some cushion. Chandler turned a pair of steals into transition layups to fuel the run, and then Jake Wickline’s putback at the buzzer made it 45-37 going into the fourth.

The fourth quarter was a defensive battle. Southern went scoreless the first five minutes of the period as a pair of 3-pointers by AJ Copen got Belpre within 45-43.

Kase Nelson’s trey at the 2:55 mark gave Southern some life. Belpre cut the deficit to three on two foul shots by Currie with 1:46 remaining, but baskets by Reed Brinager and Wickline helped the Tornadoes close it out and finish undefeated in league play.

“That’s big, because we came one game — we were 9-0 in the league last year,” Caldwell recalled. “Came down to our last game at home and lost it. Even though we still won the league, that kind of left a bitter taste in our mouth at the end of last season. We wanted that opportunity to go undefeated again this year. The guys took advantage of it, but it was not easy at all.”

Chandler and Brinager are a lethal 1-2 punch for Southern. Chandler, the point guard, tallied 23 points, five steals and three assists while Brinager, a 6-foot-5 post who can stretch the floor, put up 16 points and six rebounds. Both guys played the entire game.

“They’re just such a big part of our team on both ends of the floor,” said Caldwell, who also got 10 points and eight boards from Wickline plus seven points from Nelson. “They key a lot of things for us offensively, but they do a good job for us defensively, too. So it’s hard to take them out sometimes because of that.”

The Golden Eagles, who also lost to Southern 62-52 on Jan. 13, knew they’d have their hands full but performed admirably.

“Haiden Tabler played really well in his senior night against Brinager and held him to 16 points, which is difficult to do,” Leasure said. “He’s a heck of a player. Chandler is the reigning (TVC Hocking) Player of the Year for a reason. Those guys are good, well coached. Coach Caldwell does a great job with them, and I’m just proud of our effort.”

Tabler, who notched three assists, and Hunter Terrell were honored pregame during senior night festivities. Terrell gave the Golden Eagles a couple of early buckets when the team was struggling offensively.

“Our seniors, they’ve been through a lot,” Leasure said. “They’ve seen ups and downs, but they bring it every day. Hunter has worked extremely hard this year to improve his game to where he’s now in our regular rotation. Haiden’s our leader. He doesn’t do anything flashy or get nominated in the paper, but he’s one of the best defensive guys we have.”

Currie paced Belpre with 23 points. Copen added 12 while Malakai Ensor grabbed a game-high nine rebounds. The Golden Eagles shot 55.6% (20 for 36) from the floor while the Tornadoes were 43.1% (22 for 51). However, Belpre lost the turnover battle 17-10.

“Belpre is a really good defensive team, so we had to be solid with the ball,” Caldwell said. “I think we were forcing a little bit at times. Our zone slowed them down a little bit, but then they hit some shots so we went back to man. Just tried to kind of go back and forth on them, because we knew it’d be a tough game. We’ll definitely take this and be happy with it. Best wishes to Belpre in the tournament. They’ve got a nice team, and they’ll be tough to beat.”

The Golden Eagles have a week off before traveling to Waterford next Friday in the Division VI district quarterfinals. The two teams split the regular-season series.

“I think it’s going to be a war,” Leasure said. “It’s going to be a physical battle. They’re a good team, top to bottom. They’ve got some athletes over there and they’ve had a good season. We’re going to have to be ready to go. Got to have a good week of practice, because it’s going to be a war out there. We’ll be ready for it.”

Contact Jordan Holland at jholland@mariettatimes.com.