Cleveland Rallies Late, Holds Off Fulton For 53-50 Victory

Lady Raiders Triumph 54-37 To Make It A Clean Sweep

  • Friday, December 15, 2017
  • Larry Fleming

CLEVELAND, Tenn. – Cleveland played from behind for 30-plus minutes Friday night, but once the Blue Raiders creeped into a lead against Fulton they knew what to do down the stretch.

They played defense.

Cleveland contested every shot, forced a turnover on an inbounds pass, rebounded when the Falcons tossed up errant shots, held the visitors scoreless over the final 2 minutes and 50 seconds and escaped with a 53-50 victory at Raider Arena.

“We played the whole game looking for a spark,” Cleveland coach Jason McCowan said. “We tell (Deontae) Davis he doesn’t have a bad shot if he’s open and he made a big 3 from the corner with two minutes left and that gave everybody a lot of confidence.”

In earlier games, Oak Ridge swept Science Hill with the boys winning 61-57 and the girls notching a 54-51 win.

Cleveland’s girls used a 9-0 run starting the third quarter to pull away from Fulton’s Lady Falcons and went on to post a 54-37 triumph.

Four more games are scheduled Saturday. (See schedule below.)

Fulton (5-2) had a 48-42 lead after Edward Lacy’s layup. Cleveland’s Romeo Wykle made two free throws and Dionte Ware – Wykle and Ware each scored six points – hit a layup to pull the Blue Raiders (6-5) to within 48-46.

Fulton’s James Davis scored on a put-back, giving the Falcons, who beat Brainerd for the 2016 Class 3A state title and finished runner-up to Haywood the year before, a four-point cushion.

After a Fulton miss, Deontae Davis, who paced Cleveland with 17 points, hit one of his three 3-pointers from the right corner and the Blue Raiders trailed by one point.

Davis missed his first three shots – all 3-point attempts – in the first 50 seconds and Fulton took a 7-0 lead. Cleveland scored only 15 first-half points and trailed the Falcons by nine at the break.

“When I’m not shooting well, I try to play defense, get some rebounds and help in other ways,” Davis said. “I started kind of bumpy, but I stayed in the game mentally and finally started making some shots.”

Davis had five first-half points, added five in the third period, seven in the fourth and made one 3 in each of those quarters. Davis’ final 3 pulled the Blue Raiders to within 50-49 with 2:18 on the clock.

“We got hyped when we got the lead,” he said. “The crowd got to going and we played harder and harder in the final minutes. I’m going home, sleep, rest up and get ready to play (Saturday).”

At the other end, Deontae Davis blocked James Davis’ shot and Ware raced down court for a layup, producing Cleveland’s first lead of the hard-fought game at 51-50 with 1:44 remaining.

With the clock under a minute, Cleveland’s Isaiah Johnson stole Fulton’s inbounds pass and was fouled. He missed the front end of a 1-and-1. Ware hustled for the rebound, but Johnson turned the ball over when called for a travel with 24.7 seconds left.

Fulton’s Trey Davis was off the mark on the Falcons’ ensuing possession and Deontae Davis got a clutch rebound and was fouled. The senior, known far and wide for his 3-point shooting ability, calmly sank both free throws for the final three-point margin.

Johnson, a junior, found out he was starting the game with less than a minute before the opening tip. He replaced senior guard Mullek Bradford (ankle injury) in the lineup and turned in a solid effort on both ends of the court.

“I knew I had a chance to start because Mullek had the bad ankle,” said Johnson, who finished with 16 points, 10 in the second half. Usually, if I play good defense everything else comes around.”

It was Johnson’s second start. The first came on Dec. 5 at Walker Valley.

“I was more nervous in that one because I transferred from there before school started,” Johnson said. “Everybody was yelling at me, chanting my name. My friends up there told me the student section was going to get after me. I don’t think my nerves ever did settle down. Tonight, I wasn’t that nervous.”

McCowan lauded Johnson for stepping in and stepping up for the Blue Raiders, who are now 6-2 and winners of four straight games.

“I don’t know if we ever took him out of the game,” the coach said. “He gave us a lot of good minutes with hustle, playing toward the rim and playing his guts out all night. He usually comes off the bench, but with Mullek out we went with Isaiah from the get-go. He’s so energetic and quick, he does a lot of good things.”

At one point in the third quarter Fulton (6-2 and loser of two in a row), had a 37-22 lead and appeared ready to blow the roof off the arena. Cleveland scored 12 of the next 15 points and was within striking distance at 40-34 when the fourth period began.

Fulton’s Edward Lacy got off a contested deep 3 that was well off target as the game ended.

Cleveland has now played five Knoxville area schools – Austin-East, Hardin Valley, Bearden, Alcoa and Fulton – and won three of the five games. The Blue Raiders lost to Hardin Valley by one point and Bearden by three. The wins were by 22 points, 10 and three.

Fulton’s Trey Davis matched Cleveland’s Davis’ 17-point effort, Josh Berry scored 13 and Lacy finished with 11. Lacy got off a contested, desperation 3 that was well off target as the game ended.

Cleveland’s girls (6-5), who have won four in a row, had a 22-17 halftime advantage and stretched the margin to 15 points as Madison Dasher scored half her 10 points in the period.

Bailey Anderson knocked down two 3s in the Lady Raiders’ 17-point fourth quarter to finish with 11 points. Caitlin Reed also scored 11 points, with seven coming in the final eight minutes.

Cleveland started the third quarter with a 9-0 run. Dasher and Kara Williams connected on successive 3s and Emma Flowers had a field goal and free throw in the scoring spree.

A 10-2 spurt early in the fourth, sparked by Anderson’s 3s pushed Cleveland’s lead to 47-28 to put the game away.

Fulton (5-2), which had is four-game winning streak snapped, was led by Kiyah Latham’s 14 points.

Boxscores

Girls Game

Fulton                         11 6 5 15 – 37

Cleveland                  10 12 15 17 – 54

Fulton (37) – Kiyah Latham 14, Bailey, Tinsley 3, Tony, Dalton 9, Manning 7, Fuqua 4.

Cleveland (54) – Caitlin Reed 11, Goodman, Persons, Rominger, Madison Dasher 10, Franklin, Marshall, Rouse, Alvarado, Williams 3, Flowers 9, Joy Douglass 11, Callahan, Dranke 2, Anderson 8.

3-Point Goals – Fulton 3 (Latham 2, Dalton 1), Cleveland 5 (Dasher 2, Reed 1, Williams 1, Anderson 1).

Boys Game

Fulton                        7 17 16 10 – 50

Cleveland                  8 7 19 19 – 53

Fulton (50) – Trey Davis 17, James Davis 3, Edward Lacy 11, Holland, Josh Berry 13, Fenderson 6, Foster.

Cleveland (53) – Wykle 6, Isaiah Johnson 16, Wood 8, Hurst, Ware 6, Patterson, Deontae Davis 17, Howard.

3-Point Goals – Fulton 6 (Berry 3, Trey Davis 2, Lacy 1), Cleveland 3 (Davis 3).

Saturday’s Schedule

11:30 a.m. – Science Hill girls vs. Fulton

1 p.m. – Science Hill boys vs. Fulton

2:30 p.m. – Oak Ridge girls vs. Cleveland

4 p.m. – Oak Ridge boys vs. Cleveland.

(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)

 

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