East Hamilton's Cam Montgomery (2) is fouled on a shot with 2.2 seconds left in the game by Cleveland's Dionte Ware on Friday. Montgomery made both free throws to give the Hurricanes a 78-77 upset win over the Blue Raiders.
photo by Dennis Norwood
CLEVELAND, Tenn. – There is a bit of prophet in Rodney English.
The East Hamilton basketball coach drove to Cleveland on Jan. 26 to scout the Blue Raiders against Ooltewah.
After he gathered the information he needed, the Hurricanes coach turned and said, “We’re going to come up here and beat these guys.”
Dang it, that’s exactly what the Hurricanes did Friday night in a game that will go done as one of the better District 5-3A showdowns in quiet some time.
East Hamilton’s sophomore guard Cameron Montgomery hit two free throws with 2.2 seconds remaining to give the Hurricanes a 78-77 upset victory over the state-ranked Blue Raiders at Raider Arena.
“I’m extremely confident at the line,” said Montgomery, who scored 15 points, including six in the fourth quarter. “I was blessed to have that opportunity at the end of the game.”
The loss, at least temporarily, knocked Cleveland (21-3, 11-1) out of sole possession of first place in the district standings in their final regular season game.
East Hamilton (20-6, 9-1) has three games remaining. They host Bradley on Monday, travel to Walker Valley on Feb. 10 and in between the two district contests entertain once-beaten Tyner on Tuesday.
If the ‘Canes win out in the district, they will be tied with Cleveland for the regular-season title. The two teams will flip a coin to determine the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds for the tournament. Both teams have already earned spots in the Region 3-3A tournament.
In addition to Montgomery, the Hurricanes placed four other players in double figures. Justin Dozier scored 19 points, Noah Fager had 16 that included five 3-pointers, Sam Randolph added 13 and DaVae Hughley finished with 10.
In another brilliant display of long-range bombs, Cleveland’s Deontae Davis scored a game-high 22 points and knocked down seven 3s, one of which he converted into a four-point play after being knocked to the ground in the third period. He was decked again after draining another 3 about a minute later, but missed the ensuing free throw.
“(Davis) surprised us,” English said. “We knew he could make shots; we didn’t know he could catch fire and make those kinds of shots. We neutralized everything else, but I guess it was just his night and he made some tremendous shots. They can’t say they ran plays for him, he just made shots.”
Davis connected on three 3s in the first half, three more in the third period and one in the fourth, but the stinging loss was on his mind.
“Some of those shots surprised me,” he said. “I shot them and just hoped they went in. I wish we could have won. Losing this game is tough.”
KK Curry and Dionte Ware each scored 17 points for the Blue Raiders.
After Montgomery’s clutch free throws, Cleveland had one last chance to pull out a win and everyone in the arena knew Curry would figure into the final play.
Romeo Wykle threw a long pass from underneath the Hurricanes’ basket to Curry at the opposite free-throw line. Curry spun to his right, took one step toward the goal and got off a desperation shot inside 15 feet. The ball caromed off the rim and to the floor, setting off a celebration between the Hurricane players and their fans.
“We work on that kind of thing in practice all the time,” Cleveland coach Jason McCowan said. “But it’s different in a game.”
Inside the East Hamilton locker room, with players filing out beside him, English could not contain his giddiness that came from the victory over the third-ranked Blue Raiders, according to the latest coacht.com poll.
“Cleveland is a really good team; I think we’re better,” he said. “I felt like if we didn’t kill ourselves with turnovers we could beat them. I told the guys if we limit our mistakes and even with all their hoopla, they’re running and all their dunks, we would be there at the end. And we were.”
Fans who strolled into the arena, expected a dogfight between the district’s top two games. That’s what they got. The action was fast-and-furious. Shooting started a little sporadic, but heated up when Davis and Fager started firing bombs at the other team’s defense. Even when the defense squeezed the opportunities, the two 3-point specialists let them fly.
“East Hamilton is a team that can play on all three levels,” McCowan said. “They can beat you off the bounce, inside and hit the 3. Fager had a big night for them and any time somebody makes that many 3s, it stretches you defensively. You can’t leave him alone, but Dozier is really good off the bounce. I thought they made a lot of big shots on the road and that’s tough to do. You have to give them credit.”
The Bluer Raiders had nine-point and eight point leads in the first quarter. When Fager sandwiched two 3s around a tip-in by Dionte Ware, the ‘Canes built a four-point spread in the second period.
East Hamilton outscored Cleveland 15-3 – the offensive burst consisted of four 3s, two by Dozier, and Randolph’s three-point play – to start and third quarter and build a 53-44 advantage. Cleveland then closed the quarter with a 20-10 for a narrow 64-63 lead.
Fager’s third 3 in the third with 1.8 seconds on the clock pulled the ‘Canes to within a point.
“At the end of the third we got lost defensively and gave up the three to (Fager),” McCowan said. “That was a momentum backbreaker.”
Ware dropped back-to-back layups on the ‘Canes 15 seconds apart – the game pace never really slowed down – to start the final period and stretch Cleveland’s lead to 68-63. Ware’s second layup was set up by Curry’s 45-foot rocket pass for the game’s most outstanding assist. Curry also had at least five blocked shots.
East Hamilton went on a 9-2 run and had a 72-70 lead. Davis hit another 3, Montgomery made a free throw and Curry’s layup gave the Blue Raiders a shaky 75-73 lead with 2:30 left.
Hughley tossed in a free throw and Dozier drove the lane for a layup and the ‘Canes regained the lead at 76-75. Curry got loose for his second dunk, giving Cleveland a 77-76 advantage with 79 seconds left.
Curry was called for traveling. Cleveland took a timeout at the 57.9-second mark. East Hamilton stopped play with 26.1 seconds to play.
Working the ball around the perimeter, patiently waiting for a shooting opportunity, Montgomery drove across the lane and was fouled by Ware as he put up an errant shot.
The cool-headed Montgomery sank both free throws and gave the ‘Canes their most important game of the season to date.
“Basketball is a tournament sport,” McCowan said. “You’d like to have a clean 12-0 record and it would be nice to look at. At the end of the day, we’re both going to district tournament as a seed and not a record. If they win out, we’ll flip a coin for the number one seed. It’s all about positioning and we had that in our hands to control.
“Now some other things have to play out to see where it all lands.”
Said English: “We still have some work on the table against Bradley and at Walker Valley, where we haven’t had a whole lot of success.”
East Hamilton girls 34, Cleveland 25: The Lady Hurricanes (14-10, 9-1) outscored the Lady Bluer Raiders (11-13, 5-7) by 6-1 in the final 63 seconds to notch the District 5-3A victory.
All the East Hamilton scoring came from the free-throw line. Madison Hayes, Carli Zeh and Dezah Lacy each hit two charity tosses in the final seconds.
Lacy and Hayes each scored 15 points for the Lady ‘Canes.
Emma Flowers led the Lady Blue Raiders with nine points.
LINESCORES
Boys Game
East Hamilton 16 22 25 15 – 78
Cleveland 18 23 23 13 – 77
East Hamilton (78) – Wilson 5, Cam Montgomery 15, DaVae Hughley 10, Sam Randolph 13, Noah Fager 16, Justin Dozier 19, Wingard.
Cleveland (77) – Wykle 5, Berry 5, Bradford 6, KK Curry 17, Wood 2, Dionte Ware 17, Deontae Davis 22, K. Ware, Cobb 3.
3-Point Goals – East Hamilton 11 (Fager 5, Dozier 3, Montgomery 2, Wilson 1), Cleveland 9 (Davis 7, D. Ware 1, Wykle 1).
Girls Game
East Hamilton 6 10 5 13 – 34
Cleveland 4 6 8 7 – 25
East Hamilton (34) – Moon, Dezah Lacy 15, Wood 1, Suttles, Scott, Madison Hayes 15, Gray 1, Zeh 2, Abernathy, Laboo.
Cleveland (25) – Reed 2, Renshaw 4, Rominger, Colbaugh, Dasher 5, Franklin, Lee, Stamatiadis 3, Goodman, Emma Flowers 9, Rue 2.
3-Point Goals – East Hamilton none, Cleveland 1 (Dasher 1).
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)
Deontae Davis (22) can do a lot of things for Cleveland and East Hamilton discovered Friday that shooting 3-pointers is his specialty. Davis made seven 3s, but the Hurricanes were able to overcome them and post a 78-77 win that handed the Blue Raiders their only District 5-3A loss of the season.
photo by Dennis Norwood