With five minutes to go in the game, Rishad Felton, the Bearcats other all-star guard, fouled out of the game. Polk seemed to smell the blood in the water.

“If we were ever going to do it, now was the time,” said assistant coach Jon Hampton.

The score went back and forth then Tanner sank a 3-pointer with under three minutes to play to give Polk a 57-55 lead. Hendersonville came back with four points to take a 59-57 lead. Tanner once again hit a jumper to tie it up, followed by a go ahead driving layup with less than one minute remaining. Hendersonville was unable to convert and Alec Philpott hit two free throws to seal the win at 63-59.

Coach Josh McEntire described the magnitude of the game.

“Tuesday night’s win against Hendersonville was a huge program win. Defeating a top five team in the state and a team that had won 30 straight conference games on Senior Night was a huge accomplishment,” he said. “Jamal Tanner had some huge shots down the stretch to keep us in the game. He had 13 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter.”

Game Stats

Polk: 18, 6, 23, 16 – 63

Hendersonville: 17, 21, 9, 12 – 59

Polk –Tanner 18, Philpott 13, Miller 11, Carson 7, Hines 6, Yoder 4, Mullis 3, Stockdale 2 and Smith 1

Polk is 11-13 7-7 WHC. The WHC conference tourney at Mitchell starts Tuesday, Feb. 19 but no further details were available.