Cleveland Ends Trojans' Upset Run, Earns 5-AAA Title Shot

Bradley Teams, Walker Valley Also Reach Tourney Finals

  • Saturday, February 14, 2015
  • Larry Fleming

Soddy-Daisy’s against-the-odds run in the District 5-AAA basketball tournament ended Saturday night.

Second-seeded Cleveland got a clutch go-ahead 3-pointer by Jay Gibson, Soddy-Daisy went scoreless over the final three minutes and the Blue Raiders defeated the No. 7 seed Trojans, 44-40, in the tournament semifinals at Ooltewah High School.

“I’m proud of my guys,” Trojans coach Reid Daniels said. “We’ve got a third-place game coming up and we’re in the region tournament.”

With the win, Cleveland (17-7) reached the championship game for the second straight year – the Blue Raiders fell short against Walker Valley last year – and will play bitter rival Bradley Central on Tuesday for the title.

The No. 1 seed Bears beat host Ooltewah, 51-44, in the other boys’ semifinal.

“We’re excited about being in the championship game two years in a row,” Blue Raiders coach Jason McCowan said. “The next game is one of just three nights you can play for a trophy – district final, region final and state final. Hopefully, we can bring home the gold this time around because the silver wasn’t as much fun to take home last year.”

In girls’ action, the top-seeded Bradley Central ripped Soddy-Daisy, 71-35, behind a sensational 35-point performance by freshman Rhyne Howard. The Bearettes (20-5), who beat the Lady Trojans for the 29th straight time, will be going for their fifth straight tourney title when they face No. 2 Walker Valley on Monday night.

Walker Valley knocked off No. 3 Cleveland, 43-37, for another shot at the Bearettes.

The schedules for Monday and Tuesday are at the mercy of an expected heavy snow in the area Monday morning. Forecasters – they’re sometimes right when it comes to snow – are predicting between three and six inches of accumulations.

All four boys and girls teams have earned berths in the Region 3-AAA tournament. The finalists will host first-round games and the third- and fourth-place squads will travel to face the top two teams out of District 6-AAA.

Soddy-Daisy (11-17), which defeated McMinn County and No. 3 Walker Valley to reach the semifinals, built a nine-point lead late in the third period and was up 38-31 early in the fourth.

Cleveland got a Cantrel Ware bucket and three-point play by Kregg Ware to trim the deficit to three points.

With Soddy-Daisy in a spread offense, Jacob Floyd, one of three seniors on the squad, drove the lane for a layup to stretch the lead back to five points with 3:20 left.

Unfortunately, the Trojans failed to score again.

Cleveland’s JaShawn Hill hit a bucket and then freshman Jay Gibson, whose brother Jake is the team’s 3-point specialist, drained 3 from the left corner to put the Blue Raiders up 41-40 with 1:13 on the clock.

“I wasn’t hitting very good tonight, but Cantrel hit me with a good pass in the corner, I was open, shot the ball and got lucky when it went in.”

Said Daniels, “We had a little cushion there, but (Gibson) hit that shot. That’s what we were trying to push them to, that corner shot, which is the hardest shot in basketball. But he hit it.”

Jonathan Vecchio and Rod Dennard combined to make three free throws to seal the win for the Blue Raiders, who have beaten Soddy-Daisy three times this season.

Nine Blue Raiders scored, but none reach double figures. Gibson and Vecchio were closest with eight each.

Andy Wright and Floyd each scored 13 points for Soddy-Daisy. Floyd made three 3-pointers.

Marshae Jeffries grabbed 11 rebounds, eight on the defensive glass – 20 of the Trojans 26 rebounds were defensive. Point guard Jacob Flippo had five assists and four steals.

Bradley Central girls 71, Soddy-Daisy 35: The Bearettes (19-5) dominated Soddy-Daisy from start to finish, thanks in large part to Howard’s superlative all-round effort.

Soddy-Daisy’s last win (57-56) over Bradley came on Feb. 11, 2000 Jack Harlow’s first year coaching the Bearettes. Bradley’s average margin of victory in the long win streak is 25.3 points.

Howard’s offensive onslaught included five 3-pointers. She also had a team-high nine rebounds, four steals, four assists and no turnover as the team’s floor general.

“Put those numbers in your database and see what you get,” Bearettes coach Jason Reuter said. “They look like district MVP numbers to me.”

The slightly built Howard, who averages 14.04 points on the season, got off a sterling star with 14 first-quarter points and she banged home three 3s. She tossed in 10 points in the third before going to the bench with his third foul.

When the game ended, Howard’s average bumped up to 14.32.

“After that second 3, I knew I was going to have a pretty good day,” said Howard, who transferred to Bradley from East Hamilton in the offseason. “I got kind of tired, but overall we had a good game today.”

Reuter, 11-0 against the Trojans in his five seasons, has used motivating tactics on his prize point guard throughout the season and, needless to say, his advice is paying dividends when they count the most in the postseason.

“I’ll leave what we talked about between ourselves,” Reuter said. “But she came out today and tried to make a statement, and I think she did that.

“Rhyne makes such good decisions with the ball. God blessed her and she has fine-tuned her skills over the season. She’s got a whole lot of ability.”

In addition to another shot at a tournament title, Bradley Central is assured of its 32nd straight region tournament and 57th in the past 58 years. The last time the Bearettes failed to play in the region was in 1983-84 when they were upset by a 2-19 Cleveland squad. That was the only year legendary coach Jim Smiddy didn’t take a team to the regional tourney.

Julia Gaither and Halle Hughes each scored 11 points for the Bearettes, who went on a 15-0 run to open a 38-11 lead over the Lady Trojans (14-13).

The Bearettes shot 54 percent (21-of-39) from the floor and made 6-of-17 behind the arc. They were 11-of-17 from the charity stripe and outrebounded the Lady Trojans, 33-31.

Alexis Trimiar and Kelsea King each had nine points for the Lady Trojans, who still advance to the regional tournament for the first time since the 2009-10 season. Trimiar also had 12 rebounds

“We knew we had to play another ‘A’ game,” Soddy-Daisy coach Drew Lyness said, “and Bradley needed to play their ‘C’ game. That didn’t happen. Their pressure really created some problems (25 turnovers) for us.

“They’re a very good team and Howard was outstanding. We held her to four points in our last game at our place.”

The Lady Trojans hurt themselves by shooting 33.3 percent (12-of-36) from the floor and hitting just 8-of-20 from the foul line.

Bradley Central boys 51, Ooltewah 44Coach Chuck Clark’s Bears (19-8), who have a chance to win their second tournament title in three years, battled the Owls back-and-forth the entire game before pulling away in the final four minutes for the narrow win.

“These guys have a lot of character about them,” Clark said. “I had four seniors in the game at times and that doesn’t happen much. Everyone dreams of going to the big glass house (state tournament at Middle Tennessee State) in March. The seniors put everyone else on their backs.

“I don’t know the overall scoring stats right now, but the biggest shot of the game was Ty Morgan’s 3 out of the corner that tied the game at 42. You could feel the momentum change and it gave us some confidence.”

With a defender in his face, Morgan calmly drained his clutch 3 and paved the way for Bradley’s strong finish. He closed with seven points.

Fourth-seed Ooltewah (15-16) and the Bears were tied at 33-all in the third quarter when sophomore Cole Copeland made a field goal and his only 3 of the game, pushing Bradley up 38-34. The Owls outscored the Bears 8-1 and closed the period with a 42-39 advantage.

Clark followed Morgan’s 3 with a driving layup and missed the ensuing free throw as Bradley grabbed a 44-42 lead.

Ooltewah’s Kobe Jones, who led the Owls with 12 points, hit a bucket at the 2:48 mark, but those were the only points the Owls managed in the final period.

Clark drove the lane, hit the layup and converted a three-point play. He added two more free throws with 9.8 seconds left to provide the final margin of victory.

“When my team needs me, I have to step up and be a leader,” Clark said. “I can make plays. Coach always tells us to keep our composure, stay calm and play basketball. That’s in our DNA.”

Clark finished with a team-high 17 points, 10 coming in the first half and five in the final 42 seconds.

Coach Clark, who happens to be Daniel’s uncle, just smiled when assessing the youngster’s performance on the big stage.

“Daniel is a high-strung kid and hard to deal with sometimes,” the coach said, “but he can do some stuff that makes you go, huh. He had a couple of those huh moments tonight.”

Thomas Williams scored 11 points for the Owls.

“My guys played hard, but (Morgan’s) 3 out of the corner was an example of breaks that went Bradley’s way,” Owls coach Tank Montgomery said. “That stole our momentum and Clark made a few plays that helped them, too.

“Bradley’s pressure didn’t bother us, but the turnovers we made we just threw the ball away.”

Bradley’s win was the third against Ooltewah this season.

Walker Valley girls 43, Cleveland 37: The second-seeded Lady Mustangs (20-6) used a 13-0 third-quarter run to gain the upper hand and then held off the Lady Blue Raiders (15-12), who are still feeling the effects of four players and coach Mindy Kiser being under the weather.

Walker Valley trailed Cleveland, 18-17, but used the double-digit spurt to take a 30-18 lead and never looked back.

“That good third-quarter run gave us a spread and we held on to win,” Lady Mustangs coach Jr. Tucker said. “I thought our defense was pretty good, but our offense wasn’t so good in the first half. We didn’t shoot well.

“One of our goals was to get to the championship game. We did that and we’ll get ready for Bradley Central. They’ve got the whole package. If we play our best game, we’ll have a chance.”

Cleveland was down 37-27 when the Lady Raiders outscored the Lady Mustangs, 8-2 and knocked the deficit down to 39-35 with 1:11 left in the game.

Walker Valley stormed back by hitting 3-of-4 free throws for a seven-point cushion.

Jaclyn Griffith led Walker Valley with 13 points and CyCy White added 12.

Sofia Stamatiadis scored 13 points for Cleveland.

“We missed several defensive assignments and our sense of urgency was not where it needed to be,” Kiser said. “We were waiting for them to jump on us and we didn’t do much to help ourselves.”

 

Semifinal Summaries

Girls Game

(4) Soddy-Daisy                           9 7 11 8 – 35

(1) Bradley Central                   23 19 1715 – 71

Soddy-Daisy (35) – Hale 4, Hopkins 1, Sims, Alexis Trimiar 9, Bryant 2, Kelsea King 9, Ward 3, Phillips, Dent, Woodward, Summer Ghaffari 7

Bradley Central (71) – Julia Gaither 11, K. Brown, Halle Hughes 11, E.K. Brown 7, McRee 6, Morgan, Davis, Pell, Rhyne Howard 35, Abbott, Peterson.

3-Point Goals – Soddy-Daisy 2 (Ward 1, Hale 1), Bradley Central 6 (Howard 5, E.K. Brown 1).

Boys Game

(1) Bradley Central                   13 -15 11 12 – 51

(4) Ooltewah                                11 13 18 2 – 44

Bradley Central (51) –Daniel Clark 17, Cole Copeland 10, Maroon 8, Pitner, Ware, McCurdy 8, Beavers, Morgan 7, Parker 1, Rymer.

Ooltewah (44) – Hayes 3, Boyd 5, Thomas Williams 11, Anchanattu, Kobe Jones 12, Norwood 8, Taylor 2, McCauley 3.

3-Point Goals – Bradley Central 6 (Clark 2, Maroon 2, Copeland 1, Morgan 1), Ooltewah 4 (Williams 3, McCauley 1).

Girls Game

(3) Cleveland                                8 10 7 12 – 37

(2) Walker Valley                       5 12 17 9 – 43

Cleveland (37) – Ware 3, Scoggins 6, Sofia Stamatiadis 13, Crump, Walker, Anderson 6, Morman 5, Phillips, Person, McClendon 4,

Walker Valley (43) – CyCy White 12, Spann 3, Jaclyn Griffith 13, Lay 5, Jones, Alomar 9, Davis, Mowery 1.

3-Point Goals – Cleveland 3 (Stamatiadis 3), Walker Valley 3 (Griffith 1, Lay 1, Alomar 1).

Boys Game

(3) Soddy-Daisy                           11 9 16 4 – 40

(2) Cleveland                                 8 14 7 15 – 44

Soddy-Daisy (40) – Carter 4, Rogers,  Flippo 2, Andy Wright 13, Jacob Floyd 13, Jeffries 8.

Cleveland (44) – Dennard 3, Jay Gibson 8, Bradford, Constant 3, C. Ware 4, Brown, Vecchio 8, Hill 4, K. Ware 6, Jake Gibson 6, McRee 2.

3-Point Goals – Soddy-Daisy 3 (Floyd 3), Cleveland 4 (Jay Gibson 2, K. Ware 1, Jake Gibson 1).

Monday’s Schedule

Girls  

Third Place

Soddy-Daisy vs. Cleveland, 6 p.m.

Championship Game

Bradley Central vs. Walker Valley, 7:30 p.m.

Tuesday’s Schedule

Boys  

Third Place

Ooltewah vs. Soddy-Daisy/Cleveland, 6 p.m.

Championship

Bradley Central vs. Soddy-Daisy/Cleveland, 7:30 p.m.

All-District 5-AAA Teams

Regular Season

Boys

Bradley Central – Cole Copeland (MVP), Daniel Clark, Ty Morgan.

Cleveland – Cantrel Ware, Rob Dennard, Jake Gibson.

Walker Valley – Josh Jones, Bryce Nunnelly.

Ooltewah – Jarek Boyd, Edward Hayes.

East Hamilton – Justin Dozier.

Soddy-Daisy – Andy Wright.

McMinn County – Tristan Spradling.

Coach – (Tie) Bob Williams, Walker Valley and Chuck Clark, Bradley Central

Girls

Bradley Central – Halle Hughes, Rhyne Howard, Emma Kate Brown.

Cleveland – Jenna Scoggins (MVP), Shawnia Anderson.

Walker Valley – Kathaleen Alomar, Jaclyn Griffith.

Soddy-Daisy – Brooke Hale, Alexis Trimiar.

McMinn County – Ebony Kelley, Rachel Simbeck.

Ooltewah – India Corley

East Hamilton – Kyndall Caudle.3e

Coach – Mindy Kiser, Cleveland

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

 

 

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