Shunn Moorer (2) of CSAS drives past Ooltewah's Corey Tucker on his way to the basket. Moorer led the Patriots to a 68-66 win over the Owls Tuesday evening in a TSSAA Hall of Fame contest at Ooltewah's Edward M. Foster Gymnasium with 14 points.
photo by Dennis Norwood
Mark Dragoo was not a happy basketball coach on Tuesday night.
Oh, this CSAS boys went to Ooltewah for a tussle with a much bigger school and they headed back to town with a 68-66 win, but the veteran coach wasn't pleased at all with the way his kids handled a furious comeback in the fourth quarter where the Owls almost pulled it out.
"We have a lot of experience and depth, but you can't give up a 20-point lead in the fourth quarter," he blurted after a brief but intense talk with his kids after the game finally ended.
"We really need to practice tonight, but we'll wait until 7 in the morning and that's when they'll really find out what I'm mad about. We haven't had any real game scrimmages, but this game shouldn't have been this close.
"These guys don't know how good they want to be, but we weren't as good as we could be tonight. The first half was alright and I was really pleased with the second quarter, but our defense wasn't good and our shot selection wasn't the best. And our free throw shooting wasn't good," he concluded.
Keep in mind that the Owls are still missing at least eight players who are in the football playoffs, including four who will be starting. Ooltewah coach Tank Montgomery only dressed nine players and they all played, including four freshmen.
He was ecstatic when the final horn sounded.
"We fought and battled all game long. I'll take that kind of effort any day of the week, but they battled their tails off. We had way too many unforced errors, but that's to be expected when you have that many freshmen playing.
"We just have to take better care of the ball. But we're never out of any game the way we can shoot it. We just have to keep fighting," he nodded.
The first quarter was close with three ties and three lead changes. The Patriiots took the lead at 14-12 when Coleman Alford scored on a baseline drive with 45 seconds remaining before a free throw by Corey Tucker three seconds later made it 14-13 when the first stanza ended.
The Patriots started separating themselves a little bit in the second quarter, scoring seven straight points to break a 15-15 tie. Shunn Moorer, who had 14 points for the game, scored five of those seven as CSAS started to pull away.
Jordan Rawls got a steal and layup as Ooltewah cut it to 22-18 with 5:04 left in the second quarter, but the Patriots went on a 9-0 run for a 31-18 lead following a free throw by Jordan House with 2:28 showing.
Cameron Montgomery sank a 3 on Ooltewah's next possession to cut the lead to 10, but a putback by Moorer at the buzzer gave CSAS a 35-21 lead at intermission.
The Patriots slowly increased their lead and the difference was 50-34 when the fourth quarter started.
Back-to-back buckets by Jameel Dodds and Moorer gave the Patriots their biggest lead at 56-36 with 6:22 to play and that's when the Owls shifted into another gear.
Todd Lansden hit the first of two free throws to give CSAS a seemingly-comfortable 63-46 lead with 2:50 to play, but the Owls turned up the heat and made some incredible shots down the stretch.
A 3 by Rawls cut the lead to 68-63 with 16.5 seconds remaining. Lansden missed two charity tosses two second later to give the ball back to the Owls and a 3 by Montgomery right before the buzzer made the final margin two points.
Miguel Hamilton had 15 points to lead four CSAS players in double figures.
Moorer followed with 14 points and 11 rebounds while Darius Graves and Lansden followed with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
House and Alford by grabbed seven rebounds as the Patriots had an unofficial 40-24 rebounding advantage.
Montgomery finished with 20 to lead the Owls, including a dozen in that fourth quarter where his team scored 32 points.
Rawls was next with 17 points.
Mon Callahan and Corey Tucker both scored six points for the Owls, but they also had seven and six rebounds, respectively.
CSAS GIRLS 45, OOLTEWAH 30: The Lady Patriots built a 29-8 lead in the first half and made it stand as they won their season opener over the Lady Owls.
Lennex Walker had 18 points for the winners while Keturah Billen and Sheridan Randolph followed with nine and eight points, respectively.
Hannah Henderson tallied 13 points to lead Ooltewah while Tamiyah Baker was next with nine.
GIRLS SUMMARY
ARTS & SCIENCES 13 16 6 10 -- 45
OOLTEWAH 6 2 9 13 -- 30
CSAS (45) -- Little 6, Billen 9, Walker 18, Randolph 8, Ealey 1, Hampton 2, Hinton 1, Williams, Justice.
OOLTEWAH (30) -- Cline, Thomas, Reed 2, Swafford, Mills 2, Baker 9, Lemon 1, Jones 3, Henderson 13.
3-POINT GOALS: CSAS (Billen 3, Walker 2), Ooltewah (Baker, Jones).
BOYS SUMMARY
ARTS AND SCIENCES 14 21 15 18 -- 68
OOLTEWAH 13 8 13 32 -- 66
CSAS (68) -- Lansden 10, Moorer 14, Hubbard, Graves 11, Dodds 2, Hamilton 15, Sterling 2, House 7, McKnight, Short, Clark 3, Alford 4.
OOLTEWAH (66) -- Rawls 17, McCauley 6, Montgomery 20, Morgan 4, Tucker 6, Braden, Callahan 6, Nayadley 7, Bell.
3-POINT GOALS: CSAS (Moorer, Hamilton, Clark), Ooltewah (Rawls 2, Montgomery 3, Nayadley).
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)
Ooltewah's Cameron Montgomery brings the ball up the floor during the Owls' game with CSAS. Montgomery led all scorers with 20 points but Ooltewah still fell 68-66 to the Patriots.
photo by Dennis norwood