CLEVELAND, Tenn. – A good week turned great for Mikhail Creech.
On Wednesday, the Ooltewah senior, who helped the Owls reach the state football playoffs, signed a scholarship to Austin Peay.
On Friday, the 6-foot-3-inch jumping-jack forward recorded a double-double the hard way with 20 rebounds and 11 blocked shots as Ooltewah defeated Cleveland, 61-57, and moved one step closer to winning the District 5-AAA regular-season championship.
“Mikhail was just phenomenal,” Ooltewah coach Jesse Nayadley said.
Creech dominated the lane, bedeviling the Blue Raiders at both ends of the court. He was spraying Blue Raiders shots all over the building. And he did it with intensity.
“They were all blocked hard,” said Nayadley, whose Owls got their first win at Cleveland in five years.
Andre Moton led the Owls with 15 points, Jervon Johnson had 11 and Ben Snider 10.
Cleveland (13-8, 8-4), eliminated from the district race with Friday’s loss, got 15 points from Jarod Rhodes, 13 by C.J. Bryant and D.J. Bowles had 12.
The Owls (22-3, 9-2) can wrap up the district title -- not to mention the tournament's No. 1 seed -- on Tuesday with a win at McMinn County. The Owls tripped the Cherokees, 56-51, on Jan.13.
Bradley Central beat Rhea County, 58-45, Friday and improved to 8-2 in district play. The Bears had to vacate a victory earlier or they would be at 9-2, right along with the Owls.
However, an Ooltewah loss at McMinn County and a Bradley Central win over Soddy-Daisy would give the regular-season title to coach Kent Smith's Bears.
“This is a big win,” said Creech, who scored six points. “We win one more game and we win the district. We just have to go out there and get it.”
Ooltewah captured the district tournament title last season, but Nayadley didn’t know the last time the Owls claimed the regular-season championship.
He knows nailing this one down won’t be easy.
“McMinn's a hard place to play as well,” Nayadley said. “Obviously, it’s almost impossible to (win) here. It’s a credit to (Cleveland) and what they do.
“This has been a good season. We’re a hungry group and we’re just trying to keep them hungry. It’s tough sometimes. We’ve had to lose one here and there to humble them back to earth a little bit.”
The Owls played like they were starving in the rematch with Cleveland, which has concluded its district schedule.
Ooltewah quickly built a 16-6 first-quarter lead, but the Owls were jittery after Johnson, the team’s leading scorer and school’s all-time 3-point shooter, picked up his second foul with 3:09 left in the opening period.
Antonio Jackson hit a 3, Johnson made a brilliant spin-and-go move for a short bank shot, Ben Snider drilled a field goal and Andrew Ware made a putback with 0.1 on the clock and the Owls had an 18-9 lead after one quarter.
Nayadley decided to gamble a bit and held Johnson out of the entire second quarter, knowing he could bring his star back to the court if Cleveland went on one of its patented runs.
The Owls’ defense didn’t allow that to happen.
Instead, Ooltewah’s players picked up the foul-plagued superstar.
After Cleveland’s C.J. Bryant hit a 3 to trim the Ooltewah lead to 24-17, the Owls made four straight free throws – two each by Snider and Robinson – to stretch their lead to 28-17.
Cleveland’s Kendrick Thompson hit a 3 with 1:31 left in the second quarter, Moton scored with 10.6 seconds left, Rhodes hit a shot with 0.1 second remaining and the Owls went into halftime with a 35-24 lead despite their best offensive weapon idled by fouls.
“The key,” Nayadley said, “was that we were still playing defense hard. When you play hard defense, you don’t have a lot of time to think on offense. The pace was to our liking. We knew (Jervon) wasn’t out there, but not as much if we had been just walking (the ball) down court and trying to run a half-court set without him on the floor.”
Nayadley credited Robinson, a 5-8 junior guard, with keeping the Owls’ fast-paced offense clicking. Robinson took over at the point because starter Antonio Jackson had two fouls as well.
“He came in and just kept the energy, maybe even increased the energy,” Nayadley said. “We were getting to the lane more, penetrating hard, and as good as Jervon is, it was good to see us do that without him.”
That stretch reinforced the Owls’ belief that they have a team, Creech said.
“We knew we had to play hard when Jervon got into foul trouble,” he said. “He’s been a force for us all year, but we had to pick him up. And we did that.”
Johnson returned to action after intermission and drained a 3 just 13 seconds into the third quarter. Moton followed with a field goal and Ooltewah stretched its lead to 40-24.
Cleveland got its offense into high gear after that.
The Blue Raiders trimmed the Owls’ lead to 44-36.
Thompson started the fourth quarter with a 3 and followed it with a field goal that capped a 14-7 run and trimmed the Owls once comfortable lead to 53-50 with 6:04 left.
Johnson hit a free throw.
Moton got a steal and drove for a layup. The Owls led, 56-50.
Bryant hit a 3 from the left corner. Cleveland closed to 56-53.
After another Creech block, Moton hits a shot with 1:14 left. Owls by five.
Cleveland’s D.J. Jones hit a layup. Raiders was down, 58-55.
Jackson made one of two free throws, but on the other end Rhodes salvaged the Blue Raiders’ possession with a putback after two close-in misses. Cleveland trailed, 59-57, with 17.7 seconds left.
Johnson was fouled with 12.1 ticks on the clock. He calmly sank both free throws and the Owls had a four-point spread.
Cleveland got off two shots before time ran out, but neither hit the mark.
“We were fortunate to have a little run early that gave us a cushion,” Nayadley said. “I knew we wouldn’t keep the cushion, but it was nice to have. Sure enough, it turned out to be enough in the second half.”
Cleveland girls 49, Ooltewah 39: The Lady Blue Raiders completed the season sweep for the third consecutive year against the Lady Owls as Nora Berry scored a game-high 14 points.
Ooltewah (13-9, 6-5) outscored Cleveland (14-8, 9-3) 8-2 to tie the game at 31-all after three quarters.
The Lady Blue Raiders went on a 15-2 run – highlighted by Berry’s two 3-pointers – and opened a 46-33 lead with 4:13 left in the game.
Kianna Delaney scored nine points to lead the Lady Owls. Michelle Bradley scored seven points.
BOYS BOXSCORE
Ooltewah 18 17 16 10 – 61
Cleveland 9 15 22 11 – 57
Ooltewah (61) -- Mikhail Creech 6, Jervon Johnson 11, Antonio Jackson 6, Ben Snider 10, Andrew Ware 8, Andre Moton 14, Jacqueze Robinson 10.
Cleveland (57) -- D.J. Bowles 12, C.J. Bryant 13, Austin Herink 4, D.J. Jones 4, Jarod Rhodes 15, Kendrick Thompson 8, Ronzel Robinson, Tevin Hudson, Taylor Rhodes, Raekwon Bunion.
3-Point goals: Ooltewah 4 (Johnson 2, Jackson 1, Robinson 1); Cleveland 7 (Bryant 3, Thompson 2, Herink 1, J.Rhodes 1).
GIRLS BOXSCORE
Ooltewah 10 8 13 8 – 39
Cleveland 7 15 9 18 – 49
Ooltewah (39) -- Leondra Barrett 4, Katelyn Bowen 6, Kianna Delaney 9, Michelle Bradley 7, Taryn Lemon 4, Bri O’Shea 3, Kaitlyn Kennedy 4, Calli Cross 2.
Cleveland (49) -- Nora Berry 14, Bre Ware 3, Jenna Scoggins 4, Atarah Abdullah-Muhammad 7, Qetuwrah Abdullah-Muhammad 6, Sydnie Anderson 8, Jordan Capron 7.
3-Point goals: Ooltewah 2 (O’Shea 1, Delaney 1); Cleveland 2 (Berry 2).
(E-mail Larry Fleming at fleminglrry@aol.com)