EVENSVILLE, Tenn. – Rhea County senior Logan Hunter lit Soddy-Daisy up like a roman candle Monday night, pouring in a career-high 40 points in the Golden Eagles’ 94-71 crushing of the Trojans.
Hunter, whose previous single-game high was 25 points against the Chattanooga Patriots earlier this season (he scored 35 points during a summer league game), pumped in 26 first-half points as Rhea built a 46-27 advantage.
Rhea County (3-4), playing with a full complement of players after six footballers joined the squad following the Eagles’ run to the Class 5A playoff semifinals, kept pouring in the points with 48 more after intermission.
The Eagles’ lead was 84-53 with 6:01 left in the game.
Hunter scored 15 points in the second half and finished the game with five 3-pointers.
“I was feeling my shots tonight,” who said he scored 35 points in a game this past summer. “My teammates started feeding the ball to me and I was killing it.”
He hit from long range, mid-range and was active in the lane against the Trojans (5-3), who thrashed the Eagles 70-31, on Nov. 25.
“I do that, mix up my shots, a lot,” Hunter said. “I can shoot the 3 and I can take it to the basket.”
The silky-smooth Hunter had 14 points after one quarter, two points shy of Soddy-Daisy’s team total.
Hunter’s performance didn’t surprise Rhea County coach Mike Phillips.
“Cleveland coach (Jason McCowan) told me Logan played like that in summer ball,” Phillips said, “but this is the first time I’ve seen him do it. He can shoot nice 3-ball, hit the mid-range shot and is big enough to post up smaller players.”
Phillips knew his star scorer was having a good offensive game, but didn’t realize how good until assistant coach Larry Eastman, Hunter’s grandfather, whispered that Hunter had 35 points.
“He said, ‘Coach, he’s awfully close, would it be OK if we left him in there to get a few more,’ ” Phillips said. “I said, ‘Sure.’ It would have been unfair to take him out so close to a milestone like that. Hunter can tell his grandchildren, and because of today’s digital world, show them tapes of this game.
“We preach team to these guys, but I told the players that if any of them do something like Hunter did, I’d leave them in the game, too.”
The Eagles scored the game’s first 12 points and Hunter had 10 less than two minutes deep into the opening quarter. The Trojans clawed back into the game and trailed 21-16 at the first stop.
Hunter chalked up 12 more points in the second period, including two 3s, helping the Eagles extend their lead to 46-27. They continued the onslaught in the second half, aided by being in the double-bonus foul situation over the final 10 minutes of the game.
“Rhea County shot the ball really well and played with poise,” Soddy-Daisy coach Reid Daniels said. “(Hunter) has really come on this year. We keyed on him in the first game we played and held him in check pretty well. Tonight, we threw traps at him and face-guarded him some, but he was still lighting it up.”
Noel Patterson added 14 points for Rhea County, which plays host to the three-day Holiday Hoops tournament starting on Thursday at four different sites – Soddy-Daisy High, Rhea High, Rhea Middle and Rhea Central Elementary.
Andy Wright paced Soddy-Daisy with 25 points and hit four 3-pointers. Jacob Floyd added 16 points and matched Wright’s four 3s. Tre Carter had 13 points, with 12 coming in the fourth quarter. Marshae Jeffries added 10 points.
Rhea County girls 47, Soddy-Daisy 35: The Lady Golden Eagles rolled to a third win over the Lady Trojans this season behind a 21-point effort from post Amber Levi.
This past Friday Levi scored 37 points in the Lady Eagles’ 50-38 District 6-AAA win over Stone Memorial.
Coach Shane Johnston’s squad led 18-12 after one quarter, but stretched the advantage to 37-23 at halftime. The Lady Eagles outscored the Lady Trojans, 32-15, after halftime.
“This was the third time we played Soddy-Daisy in about five weeks and we beat them by 30 points the last time,” Johnston said. “We came out flat and a step slow. Credit Soddy-Daisy and their coaches for being very solid. They used a box-and-one against Amber and it was effective at times.
“I’m proud of my girls for their resiliency. We played physical and found a way to win. I believe the girls will learn from a game like this.”
With the win Rhea County improved to 9-3 on the season. The three losses were against White County, Riverdale and Westmoreland and those teams have a combined 31-3 record.
Lady Trojans coach Drew Lyness wasn’t happy with the loss, but found something positive in the 12-point margin after falling to the Lady Eagles, 64-34, on Nov. 25. Rhea also beat Soddy-Daisy on Nov. 13 by 53-35 in a Hall of Fame game.
“We changed things up a little defensively tonight,” Lyness said. “I don’t ever want to lose, but after losing by 30 a few weeks ago, this game could help our girls., “and to lose by 12 points after losing by 30 earlier was good for our girls.
Freshman Summer Ghaffari led Soddy-Daisy with 10 points.
“Summer gives us a spark off the bench,” Lyness said. “Another freshman, Alexis Trimiar, has started every game this season and drew the box-and-one assignment on Levi. Those two girls are going to give us a lot of quality minutes this season.”
Scoring Summaries
Boys Game
Soddy-Daisy 16 11 19 25 – 71
Rhea County 21 25 28 20 – 94
Soddy-Daisy (71) – Tre Carter 13, Rogers 6, Flippo, Sutherland, Andy Wright 25, Whymer, Kearney, Jacob Floyd 16, Marshae Jeffries 10, Treadway.
Rhea County (94) – Noel Patterson 14, Loden, Hall 6, Pugh 7, Ray 4, Bowers 5, Logan Hunter 40, Downey 3, Hill 9, Edwards 6.
3-Point Goals – Soddy-Daisy 9 (Wright 4, Floyd 4, Rogers 1), Rhea County 9 (Hunter 5, Bowers 1, Downey 1, Hill 1, Patterson 1).
Girls Game
Soddy-Daisy 5 10 6 14 – 35
Rhea County 7 12 14 14 – 47
Soddy-Daisy (35) – Landreth, Hale 4, Hopkins 7, Sims, Trimiar 5, Bryant, Davis, King 3, Ward, Phillips 6, Woodward, Summer Ghaffari 10.
Rhea County (47) – Davis 8, Revis 4, Freeman, Bustos 3, Wallis 4, Baker, Thurman 2, Keylon, Clark, Keen 2, Amber Levi 21, Morgan 1, Brown 2
3-Point Goals – Soddy-Daisy 2 (Phillips 2), Rhea County 4 (Levi 2, Bustos 1, Davis 1).
(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @larryfleming44)