It was kind of hard to get a handle on Thursday night’s TSSAA Hall of Fame basketball game between the Central Purple Pounders and the host Ooltewah Owls.

Nobody will get any style points for excellent offensive execution, but if you’re giving these two teams a grade for effort, both would be off the chart with an A-plus.

What it really looked like was a glorified game of backyard hoops.

The only difference was the presence of referees and the location of playing inside a nice high school gymnasium instead of someone's driveway.

When all was said and done, Ooltewah walked away with the 60-51 victory.

There were plenty of missed easy shots and there was an abundance of stray passes. And there were plenty of air balls, including at least two on free throw attempts.

Both teams made up for lack of execution with exceptional effort.

Both teams shot early and often and nobody was too timid to attempt a 3-point field goal. Only two were made the entire game and both came on Ooltewah’s end of the floor.

Tyler Whitman hit the first one with 2:40 to play in the first quarter. Whitman’s bucket knotted the score at 9-9 while Delorius Hixson nailed a long one about 20 seconds later to give the Owls a lead they would not relinquish the rest of the way.

The Ooltewah advantage at the end of one was 15-11 while the difference was 33-27 at the half..

Central went on a 7-0 run midway through the third quarter to cut Ooltewah’s lead to 40-38 following a layup by Vonn Bell.

The Owls answered just as quickly with a 7-0 run of their own and remained on top at 49-40 when the third stanza ended.

Ooltewah enjoyed its biggest lead of 10 points on three occasions in the final quarter, but the Owls seemed to score a big bucket every time Central appeared to be getting some momentum.

“It probably looked pretty sloppy, but all we’ve worked on so far has been defense,” said Ooltewah coach Jesse Nayadley afterward.

“We lost nine of our first 12 from last year’s team, so we have a totally different look right now. We’re young, but we’re aggressive. There’s no doubt that we have a lot of work to do on offense.

“We looked rough at times tonight, but you couldn’t ask for any more effort from either team. I told our guys I wanted at least 50 traps tonight and I bet we came pretty close,” the coach added.

Central coach Rick Rogers was just happy to be in a game situation.

“It’s good to be back out here. It was ugly, but the effort was there. We just wanted to see where our weaknesses are and we saw some, but we’ll be alright.

“We couldn’t make our free throws and there were a bunch of layups we didn’t convert. It seemed like they were bigger than us at every position. We didn’t win, but we played hard,” Rogers added.

Whitman led all scorers with 18 points while teammate Jervon Johnson was next for the Owls with 16. Hixson ended the game with seven points.

Matthew Short scored 12 points to lead Central while Bell followed with 10. Jonathan Robinson and Jerrell Woods both finished with nine points apiece.

Ooltewah’s next game will be at home on Monday against Meigs County while Central will be at home on Tuesday to battle East Hamilton.

Central girls 42, Ooltewah 32: Tempie Brown scored 11 points to lead the Lady Pounders as they pulled away late for the 10-point victory.

It was a close game most of the way with Central’s lead being just 33-30 after three quarters, but the Lady Pounders enjoyed a 9-2 edge in the fourth stanza to finally pull away.

While Brown was the leading scorer for Central, Melva Shepphard was next with nine points and 10 rebounds.

Ri Lawrence was tops for Ooltewah with 13 points while Kianna Delaney was next with nine.

GIRLS SUMMARY
Central 11 9 13 9 -- 42
Ooltewah 8 9 13 2 -- 32

CENTRAL (42) – Jackson 6, Strickland, Tempie Brown 11, Silvers 7, McGhee, Heath 1, Murray 2, Stoker, Powell, Wiggins, Shepphard 9.

OOLTEWAH (32) – Bradley 3, Cook, Delaney 9, Harris 3, Newson 3, Ri Lawrence 13, Barrett 1.

3-POINT GOALS: Central 2 (Jackson 2); Ooltewah 4 (Delaney, Harris, Newson, Lawrence).

BOYS SUMMARY
Central 11 16 13 11 -- 51
Ooltewah 15 18 16 11 -- 60

CENTRAL (51) – Scott 2, Matthew Short 12, Hubbard 5, Eaton 2, Vonn Bell 10, Robinson 9, Joynes 2, Woods 9.

OOLTEWAH (60) – Tyler Whitman 18, Richey 6, Jervon Johnson 16, Lloyd 5, Hixson 7, Creech 2, Moton 4.

3-POINT GOALS: Central: none; Ooltewah 2 (Whitman, Hixson).

(Email John Hunt at tnmoose2002@aol.com)