Bradley Central Pulls Off Sweep Of East Hamilton

Bradley Central rules on the hardwood.

The Bears and Bearettes head into next week’s District 5-AAA basketball tournament at Ooltewah as the No. 1 seeded favorites.

Bradley’s boys (18-8, 11-1) made it official Friday night by building a 17-point, second-quarter lead and then holding off East Hamilton, 59-54. The Hurricanes fell to 14-15 and 4-8.

The Bearettes already had nailed down the top seed, but tuned up for the tournament by thumping the Lady Hurricanes, 62-22, behind the 27-point effort by freshman Rhyne Howard, who started for East Hamilton last season as an eighth-grader.

Coach Jason Reuter’s Bearettes (19-5, 11-1) won the two regular-season games with East Hamilton (7-22, 1-11) by a combined 90 points, including a 91-23 shellacking on Jan.

13.

Cleveland’s Blue Raiders (16-7, 11-1), who beat Ooltewah, 53-38, have the No. 2 seed and also are idle until Saturday.

The Bears won a coin flip at Wednesday's coaches meeting that determined a tie-breaker in case both teams finished 11-1 in league play.

Walker Valley (19-7, 10-2) has the No. 2 seed on the girls’ side.

Those seeds gave all four top teams berths in the district semifinals and automatic spots in the Region 3-AAA tournament, also hosted by Ooltewah High.

A lot of what the Bears did Friday resulted from solid perimeter shooting, and they made four in the second period – three by sophomore Cole Copeland – when they outscored the Hurricanes 22-10.

Bradley McCurdy triggered the early spree with a right-corner 3. Copeland jumped in with his second trey, Ty Morgan hit a free throw, Copeland connected from the top of the circle, Daniel Clark made a layup and Copeland drained a 3 from the left wing. All of a sudden, the Bears’ lead exploded to 30-13.

“My shots were falling in the first half and they weren’t in the second half,” Copeland said. “It’s just basketball. We usually shoot a lot of 3s, but we do a little bit of everything.”

Bradley drained 10-of-21 3s-pointers and Copeland, the best player in the district, made 5-of-7 and finished with a game-high 17 points – he hit two free throws in the third period.

“I didn’t hit a two all night,” Copeland said.

Copeland, also a standout quarterback for the Bears’ football team, helped Bradley built a 32-17 halftime lead with his long-distance accuracy, hitting five 3s before being fouled and going to the foul line – ironically, he was fouled on a 3-point attempt – with 0.7 seconds left in the third period.

“Number 10 (Copeland), oh my gosh,” East Hamilton coach Rodney English said. “When we played him the first time I didn’t see any of that. I had heard stories, but I’m a college guy. I don’t care what you say, show me. Tonight he showed me. He’s really good.”

How good?

“He’s clearly the best player I’ve seen in this league,” English said. “His defense was the best thing about him the first time we played. We couldn’t get anything on the inside against him. But he does a lot of things well.”

It’s no secret that Bradley relies heavily on 3-point shooting to spur its offense.

“It’s part of our offense,” Clark said. “We’ve got 28-30 different sets and all of them have a 3-ball; set up for somebody in them.”

Copeland sat out three minutes of the final quarter after picking up his fourth foul.

At the 2:11 mark, Copeland checked back in for the Bears, whose lead was 37-21 with 5:42 left in the third period. Two seconds later he was hit with his disqualifying fifth foul against the Hurricanes’ Tracy Thompson.

Thompson missed the first attempt and hit the second only to have it wiped off by a teammate’s lane violation.

Still, it was a sweet shooting night for the Bradley standout.

“I got a feel for the rims here last year in the district tournament,” Copeland said. “I like this gym. It’s a shooter’s gym.”

East Hamilton’s Finley Chacko hit two free throws and a right-wing 3 starting the final quarter, trimming the team’s deficit to 47-39.

“(Chacko) made some 3s at Walker Valley (Tuesday) I said, ‘I’ve seen this film before.’ ” Clark said. “I called a timeout not long after that and jumped on some tails about defense, getting into somebody.”

Bradley had a 55-49 advantage with 74 seconds remaining.

Daniel Clark made two free throws and Morgan drove the lane for a layup, stretching the lead to 59-49.

Thompson tipped in a bucket and Vandrele Wilson hit a 3 – his only points of the game – over the last 17.5 seconds for the final five-point victory margin.

Daniel Clark scored 12 points, Maroon added 11 and Morgan finished with 10.

Thompson paced the Hurricanes with 14 points while Chacko scored 12 and Cody Heard added 10.

East Hamilton’s gutty second half did nothing but encourage English for what lies ahead next week.

“We’re going to have the same (second half) intensity (first half) every time we step on the floor,” English said, “because this is like extra basketball (postseason) right now. Better look out for East Hamilton.”

Bradley now must deal with an eight-day layoff.

Clark plans to give them Sunday off, get in a few light workouts and then “crack the whip” starting Wednesday for final preparation for the tournament.

“It’s too much of a break,” he said. “Eight days is a lot. We’ll take Sunday off, get in some light work on Monday and Tuesday and then I’ll crack the whip starting Wednesday.”

Bradley Central girls 62, East Hamilton 22: Howard’s homecoming turned into a fairytale.

The point guard outscored or matched the Lady Hurricanes’ scoring in three of the four quarters and her game total was five more than East Hamilton managed.

“Coming back to the school she used to attend had to mean a great deal to Rhyne,” Reuter said. “I’m sure she wanted to play extra well. For a young player who leads us in points, rebounds, steals and blocks, Rhyne played well. She was sure our MVP of the game.

“Other than Ryhne Howard, what did this game mean?”

Howard had 17 points at halftime – the Hurricanes put up 16 in three quarters – and tossed in another 10 after the break.

After a slow start by both teams in the first period, the Bearettes picked up the momentum and outscored the hosts 40-11 and officials initiated the mercy rule – a running clock – in the fourth.

Sidney Morgan scored 10 points for the Bearettes.

Kyndall Caudle led East Hamilton with nine points.

The Bearettes were playing without Katie Brown, who was sick and did not make the trip. Halle Hughes also played sick, but was still able to join the team at the Mellow Mushroom as part of her birthday celebration after the game.

“We didn’t have our sixth man and that didn’t help our depth situation,” Reuter said. “We came out lethargic. This game certainly wasn’t the ‘Thrilla in Manilla.’ ”

Reuter’s pre-tournament plans includes a day off for the Bearettes on Sunday and Monday and return to workouts on Tuesday when they will go against the freshman boys team for about 45 minutes. 

Summaries

Boys Game

Bradley Central                           10 22 15 12 – 59

East Hamilton                               7 10 17 20 – 54

Bradley Central (59) – Daniel Clarks 12, Cole Copeland 17, Tucker Maroon 11, Pitner 2, Ware, McCurdy 3, Ty Morgan 10, Parker 4, Rymer.

East Hamilton (54) – Tracy Thompson 14, Finley Chacko 12, Wilson 3, Sparks 6, Fairbanks, Dozier, Roger, Brunington, Griffith, Wingard 7, Cody Heard 10, Fager 2, Clark.

3-Point Goals – Bradley Central 10 (Copeland 5, Maroon 3, Clark 1, McCurdy 1), East Hamilton 3 (Chacko 2, Wilson 1).

Girls Game

Bradley Central                           11 15 25 5 – 62

East Hamilton                                5 8 3 6 – 22

Bradley Central (62) – Hughes 9, Brown 7, Pell, Sidney Morgan 10, Patterson, Rhyne Howard 27, Gaither 3, Abbott 2, McRee 2, Davis 2.

East Hamilton (22) – Moon 3, Kyndall Caudle 9, Woods, Scott, Wood 3, Gray, C. Zeh 3, Harvey 2, M. Zeh, Maston 2.

3-Point Goals – Bradley Central 6 (Morgan 2, Howard 2, Hughes 1, Gaither 1), East Hamilton 2 (Moon 1, C.Zeh 1).

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