CLEVELAND, Tenn. – Cleveland almost overcame a nine-point deficit against Clarksville Northeast late in Thursday night's high school basketball game.
Almost wasn’t good enough.
The high-flying Eagles built a 64-55 lead with 1:41 remaining, saw the Blue Raiders whittle it to two with a 7-0 run and then hung on to post a 66-64 victory in the highlight game of the Cleveland Holiday Tournament at Raider Arena.
The three-day tournament, which has been a pleasure for fans who were given a chance to see some teams from across the state they ordinarily wouldn’t see until the state tournament, will go down as a success with tourney officials promising bigger and better tourneys in the future.
Deontae Davis sank a floater and 3-pointer and KK Curry hit a layup to account for Cleveland’s late spurt that threatened to ignite the partisan home crowd into a potential delirious episodic celebration.
The Eagles didn’t give in under pressure from the Blue Raiders’ defense and clutch scoring in a span of about 38 seconds.
Tre Douglas, fouled on a drive to the hoop, calmly sank two free throws to give Northeast a 66-62 lead with 10.4 seconds left. Cleveland’s Mullek Bradford hit a driving layup with 4.0 seconds showing, but time elapsed.
The final-seconds of on-court madness – both teams looked like thoroughbreds racing from one end of the arena to the other all night – ended a highly entertaining finale to Thursday’s six-game card.
Curry, a beehive of opportunity from every angle on the floor, scored a game-high 34 points for the Blue Raiders (13-2), who lost for the first time on their home-court. Davis added 11 points and Bradford chipped in 10.
Curry and Bradford combined for 14 of Cleveland’s 23 points in the fourth-quarter rally.
“That was a good team,” he said of Northeast. “They’re really fast , tough and shot well from the outside. This lost was very frustrating, losing for the first time was tough and our free-throw shooting was terrible.”
Northeast (11-2) placed four players in double figures. Jaylen Tharpe led the attack with 16 points with 10 coming in the second half. Jontae Brown scored 13, Quinton Cross 11 and Diontre Franklin 10.
The one stat the haunted Cleveland was 7-for-21 from the free-throw line.
“That’s terrible,” McCowan said.
Northeast had a 50-41 lead after three quarters of terrific basketball.
A hot start to the final period – 3s by Gonzalez and Franklin and a Tharpe layup extended the Eagles’ lead to 58-45. Curry scored Cleveland’s four points in that stretch. Moments later Curry had a breakaway slam dunk, but Brown answered for the Eagles with bucket.
Norance Berry tossed in two free throws and Bradford added a field goal as Cleveland sliced the Eagles’ lead to 62-55. Rasean Taylor jumper, only his third field goal of the game, gave Northeast the 64-55 advantage and set up the final hectic 101 seconds.
A day earlier Northeast made the long drive from Clarksville and later played Daniel Boone before even checking into their hotel. A bit more rested on Thursday, the Eagles were impressive in their hard-fought win.
“No question, once they got over their trip they kicked it in against us after about a quarter and they really played physical basketball,” McCowan said. “If we just make some of those free throws we would have been in good shape. You can’t guard a free throw, but we’ll learn from it and move on.”
Cleveland girls 49 vs. Unicoi County 46: Sofia Stamadiadis hit two 3s for Cleveland’s six points in the first quarter. She added a third-quarter 3.
The senior guard decided to end the game with another 3, and that’s exactly what happened.
Coach Tony Williams drew up a play during a 30-second timeout and it was designed for Stamadiadis to shoot away from the right wing. Junior Emma Flowers, a Cleveland volleyball standout, set a screen, Stamadiadis got an open look and fired away. The ball nicked the iron before swishing the net with :00.7 seconds remaining.
“I feel really good about the shot,” said Stamadiadis, who led the Lady Blue Raiders with 18 points. “Coach drew up the play during the timeout. After Emma set the screen, my last option was to shoot it. I’m happy it went in and that last play was a total team effort.
“I’ve never on a high school game with a 3-pointer before.”
Cleveland, 8-7 on the season with all theirwins coming in Raider Arena, trailed 25-12 at halftime. Stamadiadis made a field goal, her third 3 and two free throws as the as the Blue Raiders pulled to within 33-30 after a 22-point third period.
Cleveland trailed Unicoi County 28-14 at one time in the quarter. They got the upper hand in the final eight-minute period with a 44-39 advantage with 2:29 left.
Unicoi tied the game at 44-all on two free throws by Halie Padgett. The teams swapped field goals and the game was tied again at 46-46.
Then the Lady Raiders unveiled the play directed toward Stamadiadis and she came through with a perfect shot.
Unicoi County called a timeout with 0.2 seconds showing on the clock. A hard-thrown inbounds pass was caught at mid-court by – you guessed it – Stamadiadis as the final horn sounded.
“I work a lot on my shooting,” Stamadiadis said, “but it hasn’t been as good as I’ve wanted. But I do trust my shot. The shot tonight gives me a really good feeling and it shows that hard work pays off.”
East Ridge boys 50, Meigs County 44: On Wednesday, Meigs County hit 14 3-pointers and outscored Chattanooga 42-3 behind the arc.
A day later, the Tigers watched East Ridge drain 10 3s and had a 30-6 edge in that category.
That statistic alone was the difference in the Pioneers’ victory. That and the brilliant play of point guard Marquis Hinton.
A day after the Pioneers lost to Cleveland by 35 points and Hinton managed just one field goal, the sophomore poured in a game-high 21 points that included four 3s, hit 5 of 10 free throws and ran the Pioneers’ offense superbly.
“My role is a ball-handler and I want the ball in my hands so I can get to the free-throw line late and win some games,” said Hinton, who scored a season-high 33 points in a win over Dalton on Dec. 20 in the Mistletoe Madness tournament at North Murray High School in Chatsworth, Ga.
“We work on late-game free throws with the clock running in practices a lot,” Hinton said. “And we have to make them to win the ‘game’. I’m very confident in my shooting. If you don’t have confidence, you won’t make them. You’ve got to be poised.”
Nursing a 45-40 lead with 1:18 left, Hinton missed two free throws. Meigs County (10-4) got buckets by Jesse Rayl and Brantley Baker to pull the Tigers to within 45-44.
Juwaun Simmons dropped in two free throws to give the Pioneers a 47-44 lead with 21.2 seconds remaining.
At the other end, Meigs’ Clint Oliver was called for an intentional foul and Tigers coach Sammy Perkinson drew a technical.
Simmons hit one free throw from the Oliver foul.
Hinton, going to the stripe as a result of the technical foul with 5.8 seconds left, hit both attempts for the six-point win.
“(Marquis) has been pretty consistent,” Pioneers coach Jon Stoddard said. “He has a lot of control of the game and he’s our quarterback on the floor. We want the ball in his hands because he’s our best ball-handler and a really good free-throw shooter. He played the point as a freshman so he’s got some experience.”
Elijah Garmany added 17 points for the Pioneers (4-10).
Rayl closed with 11 points, the only Tiger in double figures. Baker, who had 25 points and hit seven of Meigs’ 14 3s, scored only six points, all in the fourth period.
Daniel Boone boys 64, Chattanooga Central 50: The Pounders’ McClendon Curtis, a 6-foot-9, 295-pound inside bruiser, scored 27 points and grabbed 24 rebounds, but even that superb effort wasn’t enough to overcome the Trailblazers.
Why?
Well, Daniel Boone, rebounding from an opening-day loss to Clarksville Northeast, got a 27-point performance from Eric Rigsby to offset Curtis’ strong effort. Rigsby got 20 of his points in the second half that included his making 10 of 11 free throws.
Evan Scanlon scored 10 points for Daniel Boone (7-6), which snapped a three-game losing streak.
The Pounders fell to 2-8. Central dropped a tough 81-78 overtime decision to Meigs County on Wednesday.
Curtis, who has college football scholarship offers from Middle Tennessee, Austin Peay, Ohio University, Appalachian State, Georgia Southern, UT-Martin, Eastern Kentucky, UT-Chattanooga and Tennessee Tech, also had two assists and one block.
Warren County girls 61, Red Bank 26: The Lady Rebels needed just one quarter – the first – to build a 20-point lead against the Lady Lions. Warren County raced to a 24-4 lead and stretched the margin to 42-10 at halftime.
Megan Patch and Elsa Eckenrod scored eight and six points, respectively, for the Lady Rebels (10-6) in the opening period. Patch finished with a team-high 11 points and made three of the team’s seven 3-pointers.
The Lady Lions have struggled getting the ball into front court past pressure defensive packages by opponents and as a result they’ve scored just 54 points in two losses so far.
Red Bank has lost by a combined margin of 71 points.
The Lady Lions (6-8) didn’t match the Lady Rebels’ first quarter offensive production until Zanobia Pratt made a layup with 5:08 left in the game. By that time Warren County’s lead was 34 points.
Hale Claiborne paced Red Bank with 11 points, including of the team’s four 3s.
Meigs County girls 68, East Ridge 31: The suspense didn’t last long in this one.
Cassidy Kenny hit two 3s and Bri Bales scored five points in the first quarter as the Lady Tigers (10-3) raced out to a 25-6 first quarter and cruised to the easy victory in a game marred by three technical fouls.
Meigs County, which drilled Red Bank 64-28 on Wednesday, had a 64-29 advantage after three quarters.
Kenny scored 16 points and Jade Meadows added 10 for the Lady Tigers, who have won seven straight since losing to McMinn County 50-47 on Nov. 29.
Jayla Stone, who scored 31 points in the Lady Pioneers’ 57-38 loss to host Cleveland a day earlier, again paced East Ridge (2-9) with 19 points. No other East Ridge player scored more than five points and only five scored.
Friday’s Schedule
Noon – Unicoi County girls vs. Red Bank
1:30 p.m. – Clarksville Northeast boys vs. Meigs County
3 p.m. – Warren County girls vs. East Ridge
4:30 p.m. – Daniel Boone boys vs. East Ridge
6 p.m. – Cleveland girls vs. Meigs County
7:30 p.m. – Cleveland boys vs. Meigs County
Thursday’s Linescores
BOYS GAMES
Daniel Boone 9 16 25 14 – 64
Chattanooga Central 13 7 19 11 – 50
Daniel Boone (64) – Hegler 8, Eric Rigsby 27, Stevens 5, Norris 2, Turner 8, Brooks 4, Evan Scanlon 10.
Chattanooga Central (50) – McKibbons, Reid 9, Tankersley 4, Abshire 6, Jackson, Isom, Spotts 4, McClendon Curtis 27.
3-Point Goals – Daniel Boone 4 (Scanlan 2, Stevens 1, Rigsby 1), Chattanooga Central 2 (Reid 1, Abshire 1).
Meigs County 7 9 8 20 – 44
East Ridge 16 5 10 19 – 50
Meigs County (44) – Wriley 6, Baker 6, Harris 4, Jesse Rayl 11, Simmons 4, Oliver 5, Fowler 2, Swanson 6.
East Ridge (50) – Johnson 1, Hinton 21, S. Garmany, Hudgins, Mathis, Simmons 9, Elijah Garmany 17, Eberhardt 2.
3-Point Goals – Meigs County 2 (Rayl 1, Oliver 1), East Ridge 10 (E. Garmany 5, Hinton 4, Simmons 1).
Clarksville Northeast 16 17 17 16 -- 66
Cleveland 26 14 11 23 -- 64
Clarksville Northeast (66) – Dionte Franklin 10, Qwinton Cross 11, Jontae Brown 13, Gonzalez 3, Jaylen Tharpe 16, Taylor 7, Vereen, Robinson 6.
Cleveland (64) – Wykle 2, Berry 3, Mullek Bradford 10, KK Curry 34, Wood, D. Ware 4, Patterson, Deontae Davis 11, K. Ware, Cobb.
3-Point Goals – Clarksville Northeast 8 (Franklin 2, Tharpe 2, Brown 2, Cross 1, Gonzalez 1), Cleveland 3 (Davis).
GIRLS GAMES
Warren County 24 18 13 6 – 61
Red Bank 4 6 9 7 – 26
Warren County (61) – Chisam 6, Cathcart 5, Moore 5, Johnson, Mikkola 3, Bain 1, Wright 6, Rains, Megan Patch 11, Eckenrod 6, Smith, Young 5, Hodges 7, Wannamker 6.
Red Bank (26) – Roberts, Babb 2, Romans 3, Brown, Haley Claiborne 11, Evers 2, Pratt 5, Kennebrew 3, Bowers, Ndiaye, Stewart.
3-Point Goals – Warren County 7 (Patch 3, Mikkola 1, Cathcart 1, Young 1, Hodges 1), Red Bank 4 (Claiborne 3, Romans 1).
Meigs County 25 15 24 4 – 68
East Ridge 6 11 12 2 – 38
Meigs County (68) – Boggess 7, Moore 6, Cassidy Kenny 16, Crowder 8, Jade Meadows 10, Dankworth 2, Crager 5, Bales 9, Roy, Henry 5.
East Ridge (38) – Jayla Stone 19, Jordan 5, Kendrick 3, Hill 2, Adams 2, Toney, Murphy, Willbanks, Moton.
3-Point Goals – Meigs County 3 (Kenny 2, Henry 1), East Ridge 3 (Stone 1, Jordan1, Kendrick 1).
Unicoi County 15 10 8 13 – 46
Cleveland 6 6 22 15 – 49
Unicoi County (46) – N. Griffith 7, Hendrickson, Edwards 7, Halie Padgett 10, Kenedy King 12, Bailey 9, Vance, A. Griffitgh 1
Cleveland (49) – Reed 5, Colbaugh 4, Franklin 4, Lee, Sofia Stamadiadis 18 , Flowers 4, Morman 7, Anderson 7.
3-Point Goals – Unicoi County 2 (King 2) Cleveland 5 (Stamadiadis 3, Reed 1).
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)