Dominant Hamilton Heights Defeats Notre Dame, 78-36

Central Rips Bucs; Baylor Topples Owls; Brainerd Rolls

  • Friday, December 26, 2014
  • Larry Fleming
Baylor freshman Patrick Urey (44) dunks against Ooltewah on Friday in the Red Raiders' 63-54 win over Ooltewah. Urey scored a career-high 24 points.
Baylor freshman Patrick Urey (44) dunks against Ooltewah on Friday in the Red Raiders' 63-54 win over Ooltewah. Urey scored a career-high 24 points.
photo by Dennis Norwood

Hamilton Heights captured the Rhea County Holiday Hoops tournament championship last weekend, but failed to play any game as well as it did Friday night in a 78-36 victory over Notre Dame in the Best of Preps basketball tournament at Chattanooga State.

The Hawks (12-1), ranked third in the state by MaxPreps, scorched the Fighting Irish 53-19 in the middle quarters for a commanding 67-26 lead. The final period was just a formality.

“I think we played really good defense,” said the Hawks’ Ezekiel Balogun, who scored 14 points and had five steals.

“We were more energetic and when we got on them in the second and third quarters they just gave up. They had no chance to come back.”

In other games, Central clubbed Boyd-Buchanan, 66-46, Baylor beat Ooltewah, 63-54, and Brainerd bombed previously unbeaten Ringgold, 68-46.

In Saturday’s semifinals, Hamilton Heights takes on Central at 5:30 p.m. and Brainerd plays Baylor at 8:30 p.m.

To show how well the Hawks were playing, their big man Abdulhakim Ado, one of the country’s most highly sought juniors, sat out the final 9:14 of the first half with two fouls and scored just two points. He came back strong in the second half to add 10 points and finish with 10 rebounds and eight blocked shots, half of which came in the first quarter.

When he wasn’t blocking shots, he altered them. At one point, Notre Dame’s Kolby McGowan lofted a 15-foot-high floater just to get the shot past Ado, who has a 7-foot-5-inch wing span.

“I’m free of the flu now,” said Ado, who battled the bug all last week, “and I decided to come out with more energy and that helped us. Coach (Zach Ferrell) tells us defense wins championships and the harder we play defense the offense will come around. We played very good defense.”

Hamilton Heights led 12-7 before going on a 9-0 run – Strahinja Micakovic had five points in the spurt and finished with 14– to open a 14-point margin. And with Ado relegated to a cheerleader’s role on the sideline, the Hawks pummeled the Irish with 30 points in the second period. They added 23 in the third to open up a 41-point lead before turning the game over to reserves for the final eight minutes.

“We did have a lot more energy than we had at Rhea County,” Ferrell said. “Even the bench was energized. We talked about giving our best effort every single play. I wanted them to play as hard as they could and for each other. Even when Ado was in foul trouble he was excited for his teammates.”

Ado returned to the action in the third period and immediately scored on a dunk. He ended the game with four slams.

Ferrell, in his second season guiding the Hawks, also credited Milos Andelic’s return to the lineup as a key factor in the team’s improved play. He missed the entire Rhea County tournament with an ankle injury.

“Milos really got our defense going,” Ferrell said. “In the second and third quarters, our defense gave us a lot of momentum and some easy (transition) baskets.”

Andelic led the Hawks with seven steals and eight points.

Balogun was even more excited to have Andelic back on the court.

“I love his energy out there,” he said. “I’m so happy to have him back.”

Joan Duran had nine points and seven rebounds for the Hawks.

Kealy Green was the only Notre Dame (4-8) player in double figures with a game-high 16 points, 10 coming in the second half.

Central 66, Boyd-Buchanan 46 – The Purple Pounders’ Ryan Montgomery put together a pretty good highlight reel against the Bucs, scoring a game-high 20 points and adding two crowd-pleasing dunks – one a windmill and the other a pass off the backboard to himself resulting in a one-handed slam – as Central pulled away for the easy win.

“I love doing that stuff,” Montgomery said. “Coach (Rick Rogers) said to get the crowd into the game, play hard and have fun.”

Rogers said the other Pounders follow Montgomery’s lead on the court.

“As he goes, we go,” the coach said. “If he plays 70 percent, the other guys will play at 70 percent. I thought he was the catalyst in our third-quarter run (when the Pounders outscored the Bucs 24-10).”

The 6-foot-4 Montgomery, who earned a starting role last season, admitted the Pounders will have to step up their game Saturday when they take on Hamilton Heights.

“We’ll have to play a lot harder,” he said. “I’ve played against (Ado) a couple of times in AAU ball, so I’m used to all that height. We have to be strong and physical.”

The Purple Pounders built a 21-12 first period lead, had a 10-point edge at halftime and salted the win away with the big third-quarter blitz that provided a 61-37 cushion.

Rodney Benford added 16 points for Central, including the team’s only two 3-pointers.

Austin Jackson and Demaris Macon each scored 13 points for the Bucs.

Baylor 63, Ooltewah 54: Freshman Urey, six games into his varsity career, poured in a game-high 24 points, including 13 in the first half, and led the Red Raiders (4-2) to the first-round victory.

“I think my previous high was 13 of 15 points,” said the 6-5 Urey, who has been at Baylor since the sixth grade. Everyone has their nights. I just think it was my time tonight. I’m an inside-out player and my role is to play the post, shoot the jumper and handle the ball.

“This is all new to me and it certainly doesn’t compare to playing at the middle school. I’m handling it pretty well and getting a lot of experience.”

Said Baylor’s veteran coach Austin Clark: “Patrick really played well. I’ve wanted him to be more aggressive and he did a good job of that tonight. It was his first time on a big stage.”

Baylor led 54-52 late in the fourth period when the Owls missed a potential game-tying layup and then went on a 9-0 run to put the game away at 63-52. Ooltewah’s lone points down the stretch came on a Thomas Williams layup with 10.2 seconds remaining.

“The missed layup was huge,” Clark said. “I’m pretty critical about my team, but We had our moments. I thought we gave up way too many shots and they shot the ball well.”

Spencer King scored 15 points for Baylor.

Jarek Boyd paced the Owls (6-8) with 18 points and Williams finished with 11.

“We sped Baylor up a little bit early and got what we wanted,” Owls coach Tank Montgomery said. “The game came down to loose balls and layups and they wanted it more than we did.”

The Red Raiders consistently showed their patience in the motion offense and crippled the Owls with driving layups throughout the game.

“Several times we let their guys run right past us,” Montgomery said. “Some of our guys were laying it on the line and some just laid down.”    

Brainerd 68, Ringgold 46: Just before the night’s final game started, Ringgold coach Greg Elkins was asked for the Tigers’ won-loss record.

“We’re 7-0, but this is going to be a real challenge for us,” he said.

Elkins was right.

The Panthers (9-1), who have won five straight, built a 31-20 halftime lead and stretched it to 52-29 after three quarters. Up 40-27, the athletic Panthers outscored the Tigers, 12-2, over the last five minutes of the third period for a 23-point lead heading into the final eight minutes.

Ringgold showed grit in the fourth quarter as sophomore Mac Brower, who played as a freshman at East Hamilton, scored 10 of his team-high 19 points. The late surge was not nearly enough to overcome the Panthers.

“We worked to get the ball inside because that’s our strength,” Panthers coach Levar Brown said. “This wasn’t one of our better games and we did what was needed to win. We did a great job getting offensive rebounds and that’s probably the first game I could say that. I think we played hard for 32 minutes and that’s about all you can ask for.”

Brainerd – with its only loss a 71-56 setback against Hamilton Heights on Dec. 9 – was led by the one-two offensive punch of Da’V Moore and Jesse Walker, who had 19 and 16 points, respectively.

Boys Scoring Summaries

Notre Dame                                    9 10 9 10 -- 36

Hamilton Heights                       14 30 23 11 – 78

Notre Dame (36) – McGowan 3, Berce, Wheeler 3, Burch, Flemister, Kealy Green 16, Byrd 8, Sledge, Lewis 6, Westhoff .

Hamilton Heights (78) – Laing, Pitts 5, Duran 9, Ado 12, Chantha 2, Ezekiel Balogun 14, Strahinja Micakovic 14, Andelic 8, Olatunji, Adheke 8, Massengill 2, Abubakar 4.

3-Point Goals – Notre Dame 4 (Green 2, Lewis 2), Hamilton Heights 4 (Micakovic 2, Pitts 1, Balogun 1).

Boyd-Buchanan                           12 15 10 9 – 46

Central                                           21 16 24 5 – 66

Boyd-Buchanan (46) – Evans 3, Mullinax 3, Covington 2, Rogers, Austin Jackson 13, Demaris Macon 13, Keebler 7, Willingham 2, Clarke 3,    

Central (66) – McKenzie 7, Tiller 2, Billingsley, Hayes 7, Ryan Montgomery 20, Hudgins 2, Rodney Benford 16, Poole 8, Swafford 2, Lane 2.  

3-Point Goals – Boyd-Buchanan 3 (Mullinax 1, Jackson 2, Macon 1), Central 2 (Benford 2).

Ooltewah                                          14 10 8 12 – 54

Baylor                                               11 20 13 14 – 63

Ooltewah (54) – Hayes 5, Jarek Boyd 18, Thomas Williams 11, Anchanutta 6, Norwood, Hall, Jones 2, Freeman 6, McCauley 6, Williams-Moore, Turner.

Baylor (63) – Snead 5, Brogden 1, Whaley 5, Seaberg 8, Spencer King 15, Johnson 7, Patrick Urey 24.

3-Point Goals – Ooltewah 10 (Williams 3, Boyd 2, McCauley 2, Hayes 1, Boyd 1, Freeman 1), Baylor 4 (Snead 1, Whaley 1, Seaberg 1, Urey 1).

Ringgold                                           8 12 9 17 – 46

Brainerd                                           16 15 21 16 – 68

Ringgold (46) – Cribb 3, Roach 2, Kile Sholl 13, Mac Brower 19, Bowling, Da. Jackson, Wilkey, Adams, Ransom 5, De. Jackson 4, Sosebee, Woods.

Brainerd (68) – Sow 4, Ross 3, Tipton 2, Evans 4, Melvin 7, Cothran 4, Herman 4, Jesse Walker 16, Hampton 1, Moore 19, Beavers 4.

3-Point Goals – Ringgold 7 (Brower 4, Sholl 3), Brainerd 2 (Evans 1, Melvin 1).

Saturday’s Boys Schedule

Notre Dame vs. Boyd-Buchanan, 11:30 a.m.

Ooltewah vs. Ringgold, 2:30 p.m.

Hamilton Heights vs. Central, 5:30 p.m.

Baylor vs. Brainerd, 8:30 p.m.

(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @larryfleming44)

 

Brainerd's Jesse Walker, goes up for a tip-in against Ringgold on Friday night at Chattanooga State. Walker finished with 16 points as the Panthers won, 68-46.
Brainerd's Jesse Walker, goes up for a tip-in against Ringgold on Friday night at Chattanooga State. Walker finished with 16 points as the Panthers won, 68-46.
photo by Dennis Norwood
Latest Headlines
Sports
UTC Sofbtall Hosts ETSU In Friday Doubleheader
  • 3/28/2024

The Chattanooga softball team returns to Frost Stadium for a seven-game home stand that begins Friday afternoon against East Tennessee State in Southern Conference action. The Mocs are 21-8 ... more

Covenant Men's Tennis Loses 6-3
  • 3/28/2024

The Covenant Scots looked to boost their nonconference tennis resume with a win on the road at Oglethorpe. Covenant was unable to get the job done, as it fell 3-6. Final: Covenant 3, Oglethorpe ... more

7 Football Mocs Participate In Annual Pro Day
  • 3/28/2024

The Chattanooga Mocs had a 7-man contingent go through their paces in front of NFL scouts at the annual Pro Day. It started in the Wolford Family Strength & Conditioning Center before shifting ... more