Enterprise crushes Smiths Station 82-47 to return to state

By the end of the first half at Garrett Coliseum, the Enterprise Wildcats had left no doubt as to what their intentions were: a return to the Final Four in Birmingham as they destroyed Smiths Station 82-47 to win the Southeast Regional Tournament on Feb. 22.

The Cats had three players named to the All-Tournament team including Ken Mitchell, Elijah Terry and Quentin Hayes. Mitchell was named the MVP of the regional tournament.

Enterprise (22-6) will travel to the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center on Thursday, March 3, to face Spain Park (28-7) in the 7A semi-final game of the state tournament/ Spain Park defeated Huntsville 60-51 on Feb. 21 to earn the trip to state.

Tipoff between the Cats and Jaguars is set for 10:30 a.m. The 7A championship game will be played Saturday, March 5, at 5:45 p.m. Tickets may be purchsed in advance at https://bit.ly/3CbsVsR.

The game opened with Enterprise falling behind 18-14 but the second period was a different story. The Cats outscored Smiths 31-5 in the second to take 45-23 lead and the contest was all but over.

“We wore them down,” Enterprise head coach Rhett Harrelson said. “We had nine or 10 guys we could throw into the game and we bought in to playing full court defense for 94-feet. I think ultimately we were able to wear them down and they got really winded and gassed.”

Enterprise started the second period on a 6-0 run to take the lead at 26-18. After a free throw and layup by Smiths, the Cats went on a 7-0 run over 47 seconds, another 6-0 run over 48 seconds and a 17-1 run over 2:37 to take the lead into halftime. The only points Smiths scored in the second period was off one layup and four free throws.

“While they were slowing down, we were speeding up with subs coming into the game for us,” said Harrelson. “That was the biggest difference. It all happened so fast it felt like one big blur.”

Enterprise picked up where it left off to begin the second half when Ken Mitchell hit a 3-pointer to push the score to 48-23. Smiths only made 2 of its last 10 shots in the period and the Cats were ahead 66-35 at the end of the third period. Enterprise outscored Smiths 21-12 in the third.

The Cats started working the clock in the fourth and Smiths went on a scoring drought for 2:06 to start the fourth. Harrelson had started emptying the bench in the third period for the substitutes to get playing time. Enterprise outscored Smiths 16-12 in the last period for the final score of 82-47.

When asked about the play of his team, Harrelson said it was hard to single one person out.

“Ken played great, Tomar (Hobdy) played great, Elijah played great, Quentin played great and when all four of them play well, which they did tonight, it makes it really, really tough on other teams.”

Terry summed up the Cats trip back to the 7A state tournament in Birmingham for the second consecutive year. “We just want to finish,” he said. “One game at time.”

“(Going back to Birmingham) feels like the same,” Hayes said. “Last year was a first but this year was an expected deal so it’s like go out and do your best. There wasn’t any pressure from last season. We just knew what we were capable of and we’ve been working from the first of the season to get to this point.”

Enterprise had three players in double figures. Terry scored 17 points, Mitchell had 14 and Jordan Hines had 12. The Cats outrebounded Smiths 38-31. Hobdy led the Cats with 7 rebounds and six assists.

“Ken was MVP of the tournament, Elijah was all-tournament, Quentin was all-tournament but Tomar Hobdy, a lot of things that he does may not necessarily show up on a stat sheet but he’s the heart and soul (of this team) with his toughness and his handling of the ball, his composure, just playing like a warrior,” Harrelson said.

Enterprise had 52 points in the paint to Smiths 28, 26 points off turnovers to Smiths 4, and 30 fast break points to Smiths 8. The Cats shot 59 percent from the floor to Smiths 34 percent and was 53 percent on free throws to Smiths 40 percent.

“We’re going to get home and rest up and figure out what we need to do in practice leading up to (the finals),” Harrelson said. “We’re going to enjoy this one today.”