Blue Raiders Win, Now One Game From 5-3A Season Sweep

Owls Fall 59-42 Behind Curry, Davis; Lady Raiders win 47-36

Tuesday, January 31, 2017
Larry Fleming

Cleveland’s Dionte Ware and Deontae Davis defend against Ooltewah’s Terek McReynolds.
photo by M. A. Locke

Cleveland’s Blue Raiders used a quick burst of 3-pointers from Deontae Davis in the third quarter to separate themselves from Ooltewah and went on to beat the Owls 59-42 Tuesday night to remain unbeaten in District 5-3A basketball action at Edward M. Foster Gymnasium.

Davis, who had just one 3-pointer in the first 20-plus minutes, drained three 3s in a 70-second span that helped break a 32-32 tie as Cleveland pushed into a 43-33 advantage with a sterling 11-1 run.

“I guess you could call me a streak shooter,” said Davis, whose quick-release shot comes out of a flat-footed stance. “When the first one goes up and feels good and the second goes in I think I can make it every time. That’s a good feeling.”

If you’re a Blue Raider.

Not so much for Jay Williams, the Owls head man.

“We had some kids that played their rear ends off on him for most of the game,” Williams said. “But against good shooters, most of the time is not good enough and tonight was a classic example of that.”

The game was tied 32-all when Davis knocked down a straight-on 3. Twenty-nine seconds later, after Cleveland retrieved a loose ball, Davis stepped back and nailed another 3 from the left wing.

Battling hard inside for a rebound, KK Curry scored on a put-back and Davis ended the game-changing spurt with his third 3 in 70 seconds. That gave Cleveland a 43-33 lead with 2:12 left in the third period.

The Owls trailed 43-35 heading into the final quarter and Davis was on the sideline with four fouls.

Cleveland’s Jacobi Wood dropped in a soft running floater, but Ooltewah countered with a Torey Morgan layup and Coby Smith’s free throw with 6:15 remaining. Davis returned to the action while Smith was at the line.

The Blue Raiders scored the next 11 points, starting with Curry’s three-point plays and including two buckets by Kregg Ware, and Cleveland was rolling in clover with a 56-38 cushion and 63 seconds on the clock.

“In a game like this,” Cleveland coach Jason McCowan said, “you can tell our defensive intensity was based on whether the ball was going in or not. Balls weren’t going in early and give Ooltewah credit, they were playing good defense against us.”

After a frustrating stretch, shots started to fall for the Blue Raiders, who haven’t gone 12-0 during the district’s regular season since 2009-10 when they won district and region tournament titles and lost to Columbia in the sectional round.

“Then our intensity went up and it was like, ‘Here we go,’ ” said McCowan, who is in his 10^th year leading the Cleveland program. “I told them in the locker room you’re finding ways to get out of a rut and slow start, you’ve got a target on your back everywhere you go; everybody knows your record and you’re ranked this and ranked that. They blocked all that out and started playing good basketball, although it took us a while to shake that off.”

In addition to all that, Cleveland lost starter Dionte Ware less than a minute into the game when he suffered a cut on his right eyelid that required stitches.

Taye Cobb replaced Ware in the lineup.

“It’s hard to replace a double-double guy and a kid that plays so hard on both ends of the floor,” McCowan said. “But guys stepped up and starred in their roles. Taye and Norance (Berry) both did good jobs of being the best player could within those roles.”

Ranked No. 2 in Tennessee by coachT.com, Cleveland goes for the regular-season sweep on Friday when it plays host to East Hamilton at the Raider Arena on Friday. The Hurricanes (19-6, 8-1) whipped McMinn County 80-66 on Tuesday and is the only squad with one district loss.

The Blue Raiders escaped with a 79-71 victory at East Hamilton on Jan. 10.

“Going 12-0 would mean a lot to us,” McCowan said. “We wanted to qualify for the region tournament and we’ve done that. We want to go 12-0 in the district and we’ve got a chance to do that Friday. I told them at halftime you can’t go 12-0 unless you win tonight. They didn’t play their best tonight, but they still got a double-digit win on the road and I’m proud of them for that.”

Curry, one of the district’s fastest players with the ball despite his lanky 6-foot-5 frame, led the Blue Raiders with 18 points, 10 coming in the second half. He was 8-of-15 from the free-throw line.

Davis added 14 points, including the clutch 3-pointers in the third period.

Cleveland has won eight straight games since losing to Clarksville Northeast in the post-Christmas Cleveland Holiday Classic on Dec. 29.

Cam Chambers paced Ooltewah with 14 points. The Owls fell to 6-12 overall and 2-8 in the district.

“We’re making some progress,” Williams said. “We have to put things together for 32 minutes now. I give credit to Cleveland tonight. When the game was on the line they got the loose balls, the rebounds and really went after the ball. Down the stretch they did some very good things.”

Cleveland girls 47, Ooltewah 36: The Lady Blue Raiders trailed 18-15 at the half, but outscored the Lady Owls 32-18 after intermission.

Sofia Stamatiadis led Cleveland (11-12, 5-6) with a game-high 21 points, including 18 in the second half. The senior guard was 9 of 11 from the charity stripe and connected on two 3-pointers in the third quarter.

The Lady Raiders went 17-for-22 from the free-throw line.

Courtney Swafford scored 17 points for the Lady Owls (4-16, 1-9).

LINESCORES

Boys Game

Cleveland 12 15 16 16 – 59

Ooltewah 9 17 9 7 – 42

Cleveland (59) – Wykle, Berry 6, Bradford 1, KK Curry 18, Wood 3, D. Ware, Deontae Davis 14, K. Ware 9, Cobb 8.

Ooltewah (42) – Taylor 2, McReynolds 4, Tucker, Braden, Kendricks 4, T. Morgan 6, Cam Chambers 15, C. Morgan 8, Smith 1.

3-Point Goals – Cleveland 6 (Davis 4, K. Ware 2), Ooltewah 3 (Chambers 2, Kenricks 1).

Girls Game

Cleveland 4 11 13 19 – 47

Ooltewah 7 11 6 12 – 36