CLEVELAND, Tenn. – For most of the night, Cumberland County and Bradley Central played mad-dash-to-the-rim basketball, treating a good crowd at Jim Smiddy Arena to a hard-fought, thrilling game in the Region 3-AAA tournament quarterfinals.
In the end, the District 6-AAA champion Bears built a 10-point with three minutes left and held off the Jets, the No. 4 team from District 6-AAA, 70-63, behind an offensive juggernaut that produced four double-figure scorers.
(Wednesday's four semifinals games have been postponed, according to a text from tournament director Jesse Nayadley, the Ooltewah High School athletic director.
Hopefully, Nayadley said, the games can be played on Thursday.)
Playing without three players sitting out suspensions, Bradley Central (21-8) advanced to the semifinals scheduled for 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday at Ooltewah High School, weather permitting. The Bears will take on 6-AAA No. 2 seed Stone Memorial, which ousted Ooltewah, 69-61.
Snow is once again in the forecast for Wednesday evening into Thursday.
“Those players violated a team rule and they had to sit,” Bears coach Chuck Clark said. “They made a mistake. Our first point on the board in the locker room was about adversity. Who’s going to pick up the other players? We had four guys in double figures, so that’s picking up pretty good. I was pleased we overcame that.”
The players, who watched the game in street clothes, were senior starter Tucker Maroon and junior reserves Tre Ware and Peyton Parker.
“I can’t say it didn’t rattle us a little,” junior Bradley McCurdy said. “They were there earlier when we were shooting around and we were told about an hour before the game. We talked about it in the locker room and coach Clark got us ready to play. We had to adapt.”
Said sophomore Cole Copeland: “It was something about snowballs, I think.”
In other games, Cookeville defeated Cleveland, 52-48, and White County shellacked Soddy-Daisy, 85-69. Cookeville plays White County at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday in the other semifinal game.
Bradley’s boys and girls are the only two 5-AAA teams still standing.
“We were mentally tough down the stretch in this game tonight and that’s huge,” Copeland said. “We won it down the stretch that could help us in our next game.”
Copeland led the Bears with 20 points while McCurdy and Ty Morgan each scored 15 and Daniel Clark added 13. Copeland and McCurdy combined for 18 of Bradley’s 19 fourth-quarter points.
Cumberland County (13-19) also had four players in double figures, led by Diego Poore’s 12 points. David Elliott, Jordan Graham and Blake McLaughlin had 10 apiece.
“We were big underdogs and we gave Bradley a good game,” Jets coach Will Foster said. “It was a tough game for either team to lose.”
Bradley Central, having to fight for every point, went into the fourth period with a 51-47 lead.
Jets freshman Silas Clark hit a baseline jumper 33 seconds in, but the Bears answered with a 12-4 spurt that put Cumberland County in a deep hole with slippery footing.
Copeland, the district’s regular season most valuable player, scored seven points in the pivotal run and finished with four blocks.
Cumberland County’s vaunted 3-point reputation came to fruition at that point.
Cade Smith hit from the right wing and after a Jordan Graham free throw, drilled another 3 from the top of the circle and the Jets trailed 63-60.
McCurdy stemmed the tide by hitting two free throws at the 1:14 mark.
“They’re a tough, hard-nosed team,” Copeland said of the Jets. “They’re tough to play.”
Graham and Copeland swapped made free throws and the Bears had a 66-61 lead with under a minute to play. Diego Poore dropped in a high lane floater, but Copeland, who had 11 points in the fourth period, made two free throws, McCurdy made one and Copeland connected with another to provide the final seven-point margin.
“Cumberland is a great shooting team,” McCurdy said. “They were pulling up, especially early, and hitting a lot of mid-range shots. It was a run-and-gun game early and that’s what we want. If we can get a team running, we just want to keep running them.”
Trailing 34-31 at halftime, the Jets’ Elliott made a layup to start the third quarter only to see the Bears ring up seven straight points four coming on putbacks by Copeland and Daniel Clark to extend the lead to 41-33.
McLaughlin sandwiched 3-pointers – the Jets’ first bombs of the game – around a McCurdy free throw and Bradley’s lead withered to 44-42 with 3:03 left in the period.
“We missed a couple of assignments with a youngster out there,” coach Clark said, “and that’s OK. Just don’t do it too often or you’ll be over there with me on the bench. We were actually laying off (McLaughlin), inviting him to shoot. After he made two 3s we changed our defensive scheme a little bit.”
Morgan, a scrappy 5-10 senior guard, bulldozed his way to back-to-back layups to give the Bears a little breathing room at 48-42.
The little sparkplug was clicking.
“With Tucker, Tre and Peyton out,” Morgan said, “we all had to step up, be ready to go and that included the bench players. I had to play a little harder and give it everything I had. We’re all fighters.”
Morgan scored only one point the rest of the way, but his contribution was measured in other ways. He guarded, harassed and scrapped inside with taller players for loose balls and rebounds.
That’s something his coach has seen all season.
“He wakes up in the morning on go,” Clark said. “He will be the toughest we have to replace next year because he plays with so much heart and determination, and it’s hard to beat that combination.
“He was fighting for loose balls and rebounds and it didn’t surprise me when he popped up with them.”
In Crossville, Kobe Jones paced Ooltewah (16-17) with 16 points. Jarek Boyd tossed in 15 points and Edward Hayes added 14 for the Owls, who trailed 36-28 at halftime.
Over at Sparta, Kordell Henderson scored 24 points to lead White County past the Trojans (14-15).
The Warriors blew out to a 48-26 halftime lead and never looked back.
Jacob Floyd paced the Trojans with 22 points on 8-of-15 shooting, including hitting 6-of-12 3-pointers. Andy Wright scored 11 points and Jacob Flippo finished with 10.
NOTE: Keith Elliott, the longest-tenured basketball coach in District 5-AAA, has been dismissed at McMinn County High School. A McMinn County graduate, Elliott’s Cherokees went 9-20 this season and lost to Soddy-Daisy in opening round of the district tournament.
According to a source close to the athletic department, school administrators gave Elliott a chance to resign, but he refused. At that point, the long-time coach was fired.
Elliott was McMinn’s head coach 21 years and had a 307-322 career record. He was an assistant on Ron Baker’s staff for 10 years.
GAME SUMMARY
Cumberland County 15 16 16 16 – 63
Bradley Central 13 21 17 19 – 70
Cumberland County (63) – Clark 7, Alex Dixon, Jordan Graham 10, David Elliott 10, Blake McLaughlin 10, Diego Poore 12, Vaden 6, Smith 8
Bradley Central (70) – Daniel Clark 13, Cole Copeland 20, Pitner 3, Bradley McCurdy 15, Beavers, Ty Morgan 15, Rymer 4, Brown.
3-Point Goals – Cumberland County 5 (Smith 2, McLaughlin 2, Clark 1), Bradley Central 2 (Copeland 1, Pitner 1).
Wednesday’s Games
Semifinals
4 p.m. – Cumberland County (25-4) girls vs. Cookeville (13-19)
5:30 p.m. – White County (27-3) boys vs. Cookeville (23-9)
7 p.m. – White County (27-3) girls vs. Bradley Central (22-5)
8:30 p.m. – Stone Memorial (15-16) boys vs. Bradley Central (21-8)
(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @larryfleming44)