East Limestone's middle school boys.

Skylar Townsend’s buzzer-beating bucket on Saturday night propelled Tanner’s varsity boys to a 52-50 win over East Limestone in the championship game of the Limestone County Basketball Tournament.

Townsend made a tough jumper over a pair of defenders with two seconds left on the clock to send the Class 2A No. 8 Rattlers (13-6) to a thrilling victory over the Class 5A No. 8 Indians (17-5).

Tanner trailed by as many as 14 points in the second half before ultimately pulling off the impressive comeback. 

East Limestone’s junior varsity boys and middle school boys, meanwhile, earned their respective county crowns following victories against Tanner and Elkmont earlier in the day.

---

Coach Speak

“The message to the guys was to compete as hard and as long as possible and give ourselves a chance to win it in the fourth quarter. We hit a few timely 3-pointers in the fourth and went on a little run. They had a player or two get in some foul trouble, which helped us. We also hit some clutch free throws toward the end to help tie the game. It was really a team effort, even though we only had seven guys available. Every player who dressed scored and we had some guys who played the most minutes of the year.” — Dale Taylor

---

Player Speak

“My coach came to me and told me, ‘I want you to take this shot. Go be a playmaker and win us this game.’ It felt awesome winning the whole thing and just felt good to know that coach and my team had confidence in me to go win the game.” — Skylar Townsend

---

Top Scorers

Tanner: Eliyjah Jones (11), Skylar Townsend (10), Endymion Tyus (10), Cade Dorning (8), Matthew Fletcher (7)

East Limestone: Zak Cain (18), Charles Burgess (9), Jeb Blanton (8), Chandler Moore (8)