Garmany Sinks Game-Winner As East Ridge Wins

It seems that Central and East Ridge always play close games in basketball with most contests being decided by one or two points.

Such was the case at Central on Tuesday night as the visiting Pioneers overcame a five-point deficit late in the fourth quarter and escaped with the 51-49 victory.

Sam Garmany actually scored the winning bucket as his 3 from the wing with 44 seconds to play gave East Ridge the lead for the final time at 50-49. 

Solomon Taylor added the second of two free throws with 8.5 seconds to give the Pioneers a two-point lead before Central’s Trey Owten missed a runner down the lane as the clock expired.

East Ridge coach Jon Goddard was much happier after this game than the season opener at Ooltewah a week ago.

“Last year we had to depend on the 3 a lot more since we didn’t have much size inside, but that’s not the case this year,” he said after his team evened its record at 1-1.

“We play a lot slower now, which is how I like it, but we were able to withstand their runs tonight.  We have to be more efficient offensively and I’m trying to impress on my guys that every possession is important.

“We have to do a better job taking care of the ball, but we made two pretty good plays to tie it when we were down by five.  I really like this team and the approach they take every day in practice,” he added.

Taylor’s free throw gave the Pioneers a little breathing room, but with 8.5 seconds on the clock, Central had more than enough time to set up the play they had called during their final timeout.

Owten brought the ball down court and drove down the lane, but his shot was contested and it was off the mark as the game ended without another score.

Central coach Rick Rogers admitted on his way to the dressing room that things didn’t work out like they had planned.

“That wasn’t the play we wanted as Brett Abshire was all alone in the corner, but we shot 24 three-pointers and made only five, so that was the game as we basically shot ourselves out of it,” he said after his post-game chat with his team.

“I wasn’t expecting that as we can play much better, but it appeared to me that East Ridge was the more confident team tonight.  And it’s hard to only score seven points in the third quarter at home and expect to win, but it’s a long season and we’ll work to get better in practice tomorrow.

“I’m pleased with our effort, but we still have some things to figure out.  It seems like it’s always a one or two-point game when we play East Ridge,” he concluded with a smile.

Braxton Moffett scored back-to-back buckets to give East Ridge a 9-8 lead with 2:12 left in the first quarter before Central finished off the period with a 6-0 run, concluding with a steal and slam from Owten at the end for a 14-9 Purple Pounder lead.

East Ridge had a 7-0 run midway through the second period for a 21-19 lead following the second straight 3 by Nate Mathis with 4:47 showing.

Tyrone Martin scored on a short banker with 2:53 for a 23-22 Pioneer lead, but Central got a bucket from Owten in the lane about 90 seconds later as the Pounders had a 24-23 lead at the break.

East Ridge had an 11-7 advantage in the third quarter for a 34-31 lead with eight minutes to play before Martin nailed a 3 to start the fourth for the biggest lead of the game for the Pioneers at 37-31.

Central rallied with consecutive buckets from Cavonte McKibbens, Jerrod Bibbs, Marcus Tankersley and Davon Reid for a 42-39 lead with 4:45 to play before the score was tied once again on a 3 by Garmany.

The two teams then traded 5-0 runs before Tankersley gave Central a 49-47 lead with a steal and layup, setting up Garmany’s big 3 inside the final minute.

Both teams could have put the game out of reach at the free throw line, but Central could only sink one of six in the final eight minutes, including three straight misses in the last minute.  East Ridge wasn’t much better as the Pioneers were also one of six in the final quarter, including the front end of two bonus situations.

East Ridge finished seven of 17 from the charity stripe while Central made half of its 12 attempts.

Martin finished with 14 points to lead East Ridge while Garmany was next with nine.  Taylor and Mathis followed with seven and six points, respectively.

McKibbens was tops for the Pounders with a dozen points while Bibbs was also in double figures with 10.  Owten and Tankersley both had nine points.

Martin had nine rebounds, including seven in the second half, as the Pioneers won the battle of the boards by an unofficial 31-25 count after Central had the edge 11-7 in the first half. Taylor snagged eight for the winners.

Owten had 11 caroms for the Purple Pounders.

East Ridge is now 1-1 while Central is 0-1.

CENTRAL GIRLS 27, EAST RIDGE 23: The Lady Pounders had trailed for the entire game and were behind 21-20 when the final quarter started.  A 7-2 edge in the final eight minutes was the difference in the game.

Ja’nya West led Central with 13 points while Alyssa Coffman was next with eight.

Monique Baker was tops for East Ridge with 11 points while Monica Hubbard finished with six.

GIRLS SUMMARY

EAST RIDGE  5  8  8  2  --  23

CENTRAL  3  6  11  7  --  27

EAST RIDGE (23) – Gamble 2, Baker 11, Moton 2, Toney, Hubbard 6, Nicholson, Lovelady 2, Willbanks.

CENTRAL (27) – Coffman 8, West 13, Griffith 2, Stokes, Harrington, Traylor 4, Ladd, Vaulx, Glenn, Whaley.

3-POINT GOALS: East Ridge none; Central 2 (West 2).

BOYS SUMMARY

EAST RIDGE  9  14  11  17  --  51

CENTRAL  14  10  7  18  --  49

EAST RIDGE (51) – Tremble, Williams, Hudgins 2, Mathis 6, Stewart 4, Martin 14, Taylor 7, Garmany 9, Russell 5, Moffett 4.

CENTRAL (49) – Tankersley 9, Owten 9, Reid 2, McKibbens 12, Payne, Abshire 5, Jackson, Isom 2, Ervin, Bibbs 10, Robinson.

3-POINT GOALS: East Ridge 8 (Mathis 2, Martin 3, Garmany 3); Central 5 (Tankersley, Owten, McKibbens 2, Abshire).

(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)