Ooltewah's Kobe Jones chats with coach Andre Montgomery during Thursday's game against East Ridge. Jones scored 15 points and the Owls won, 59-51.
photo by Dennis Norwood
Foul calls came fast and furious in Thursday’s high school basketball game pitting Ooltewah and East Ridge at Catherine Neely Gymnasium.
The Owls had a chance to blow the game open, but missed 17-of-32 chances at the free-throw line.
That’s a bug-a-boo Ooltewah (10-12) has battled all season.
“Those guys shoot at least a hundred a day in practice,” Owls coach Andre Montgomery said.
“We try to simulate situations when they’re tired, but they’ve got to step up and make them in games.”
The Owls managed to outscore East Ridge by 10 points at the stripe, got a solid two-way game from Kobe Jones and eased past the Pioneers, 59-51, in the non-district game.
East Ridge’s big man, Kevin Blair, was held to seven points – two in the second half – before fouling out with 2:27 left in the game. Blair picked up his third and fourth fouls within a 37-second span earlier in the fourth period.
The Pioneers’ Dee Moore finished the game with four fouls, as did the Owls’ Jones. The Pioneers’ Elijah Garmany, who led his team with 16 points, and Allen Lee, Blair’s back-up, each had three fouls. The Owls’ Omari Kendrick and Dazion Taylor also had three.
In all, East Ridge (7-10) was saddled with 23 fouls and Ooltewah 19. It was an even 12-12 split in the first half.
“No comment,” said East Ridge coach Jon Goddard. “None.”
Jones and freshman Joseph Norwood each scored 15 points to lead the Owls. Kevin McCauley added 13 points and Jarek Boyd finished with 10 as Ooltewah completed the regular-season sweep of the Pioneers.
Norwood made the Owls’ free-throw percentage better by hitting 9-of-12.
“I can’t say enough about that freshman,” Montgomery said.
East Ridge went 7-of-14 from the charity stripe.
Jones, a 6-foot-4-inch junior, drew the assignment of defending Blair, a 6-2, 275-pounder with surprising agility under the bucket.
“He’s not just a big man,” Jones said, “but he can move pretty good too. I knew I had to front him, but the way the refs were calling the game, it was hard trying to hand-fight him. I really had to want it in the second half to put my team in a better position to win.”
Jones resorted to using his slight height advantage, made even better with his long wingspan, to better control Blair, who had a game-high 23 points in a 66-63 loss to District 6-AA rival Central last week.
“It wasn’t an easy challenge,” Jones said, “so I had to make him shoot over me. I had a lot of help on the backside and I trusted my teammates to be there for me.”
Norwood and Jones combined for 14 of Ooltewah’s 21 fourth-quarter points to keep the Owls (10-12) out front.
Jones started by converting a three-point play and Norwood followed with two free throws. Five times Ooltewah players went 2-for-2 at the line and Norwood did it four times – twice in the final period.
Jones missed twice, but finally salvaged the scoring opportunity with a tip-in and McCauley’s field goal gave the Owls a 47-38 lead with 5:24 remaining.
East Ridge’s JoJo Tillery and Jones hit baskets 11 second apart and Garmany converted a three-point play and the Pioneers were within two of the Owls.
Earlier in the game, Jones made a crowd-pleasing driving layup – he made a behind-the-back pass to himself on the way up – that gave East Ridge its first lead of the game at 12-10.
“I have to do what I can to get around the defender,” he said. “It just happens, but it felt good though.”
Jones scored seven of his 15 points in the fourth period, including a 3-pointer with 31.2 seconds left.
“It was tough with the way calls were going,” he said. “It seemed like they called everything on our side. We couldn’t get any rhythm going with so many fouls being called, but we played pretty good as a team. Our defense was good and we crashed the boards. We probably could have played better offensively.”
Said Montgomery, “Kobe has been working his butt off the last five games. Tonight he played knowing if the guy behind him didn’t get there it wasn’t his fault. We wanted them to lob that pass and we got a couple of steals with Kobe in front of (Blair). That was his job, use his length and work hard.”
The decisive stretch of the game came right after East Ridge narrowed the deficit to 47-45.
Ooltewah outscored East Ridge 9-0 in a 75-second spurt – Norwood had five points – and opened a 54-45 cushion.
Kobe Jones made a layup and Taylor capped the spurt with another layup with 1:13 left in the game.
Taylor and Kendricks took care of the point-guard duties Thursday in the absence of injured starter Edward Hayes (ankle).
“They both played well,” Montgomery said. “Kendricks started for us and Taylor played big some big minutes down the stretch and this was a big win without our starting point guard. Edward is a key player for us and without him those two guys and Jones really stepped up. Jones was a football player and he’s just now getting his groove back.”
East Ridge showed grit throughout the game, once breaking a 14-14 tie by outscoring Ooltewah 9-4 to grab a 23-16 halftime lead. Garmany banged home two 3s in the stretch.
Ooltewah girls 53, East Ridge 28: The Lady Owls (5-13) scored the game’s first 21 points, holding the Lady Pioneers (2-15) scoreless for the first 11 minutes and 52 seconds.
“We got a monkey off our backs,” Lady Owls coach Jensen Morgan said. “It felt good to be leading at halftime for a change. We’ve improved a hundred percent since the season started. Everyone has bought into what we want to do and we’re playing as a team and not individuals. We’ve come a long way.”
India Corley scored 14 points and Tamiyah Baker added 12 for the Lady Owls, who overcame 27 turnovers to post the win.
Kyhonah Lawrence tossed in 13 points, including 10 in the third quarter, for East Ridge. The Lady Pioneers committed 31 turnovers.
Summaries
Boys Game
Ooltewah 7 9 22 21 – 59
East Ridge 4 19 11 17 – 51
Ooltewah (59) – Jarek Boyd 10, Williams, Anchanattu, Kendricks 2, Kobe Jones 15, Joseph Norwood 15, Taylor 4, Kevin McCauley 13, McReynolds.
East Ridge (51) – Millener 2, Tillery 3, Thomas 4, Jesse Jones 15, McKibben, Moore, Elijah Garmany 16, Blair 7, Lee 2.
3-Point Goals – Ooltewah 4 (McCauley 3, Boyd 1), East Ridge 4 (Garmany 3, Jones 1).
Girls Game
Ooltewah 13 15 15 10 – 53
East Ridge 0 6 18 4 – 28
Ooltewah (53) – Cline, Hall 6, Price, Swafford 5, Reed 6, Tamiyah Baker 12, Kennedy, Lemon, India Corley 14, R. Jones 4, K. Jones 4, Kilgore 2.
East Ridge (28) – Stone 7, Kendrick 3, Martin, Toney, Moon, Thomas, Kyhonah Lawrence 13, Moore 3.
3-Point Goals – Ooltewah 3 (Reed 1, Baker 1, Corley 1), East Ridge 3 (Stone 1, Kendrick 1, Lawrence 1).
(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @larryfleming44)
Elijah Garmany, who scored a team-high 16 points, including three 3-pointers, puts up a shot against Ooltewah on Thursday night.
photo by Dennis Norwood