A year ago, Central was trying to win a District 6-2A regular season championship.
Fast forward to Tuesday, the Purple Pounders were trying to avoid the tournament’s play-in game.
Central blitzed cold-shooting Red Bank and cruised to a 48-24 victory behind a strong effort by 6-foot-7 post McClendon Curtis – he had a double-double with 13 points and 13 rebounds -- and accomplished what it set out to do. The Pounders won’t have to play either Tyner or Brainerd early in the postseason tourney.
With the win, Central (6-12, 4-8) earned a No. 5 seed and is likely to play East Ridge pending the Pioneers’ game against Brainerd on Tuesday.
Red Bank (5-19, 2-10) will be the seventh seed will take on Tyner if the Rams beat Brainerd on Friday. The Rams (21-2) tuned up for the big showdown with a 61-51 victory over East Hamilton on Tuesday. The Hurricanes are the No. 2 seed in the District 5-3A tournament.
“We’ll definitely go into the tournament focused,” said Curtis, who added three assists, two steals and four blocks. “The season has been frustrating for me, but I understand we have a lot of young guys playing and we’ve been trying to put all the pieces together. We’ll play hard and if we play East Ridge we know that’s a good-shooting team. We’ll have to defend them hard.”
In the 2015-16 season, Central won the district regular-season title, including a sweep of Brainerd and a split with Tyner, lost to the Panthers in the league tournament, won the region title and a sectional game at Upperman before losing to eventual state champion Farragut in the state quarterfinals.
With seven (seniors) of the eight top players gone from last season’s team, coach Rick Rogers had to revamp the lineup, except for Curtis inside, and persevered through this season. There was plenty of motivation for both teams Tuesday, but the Pounders had a couple of added factors weighing in their favor.
“While we definitely wanted to avoid the number 1 and 2 seeds right off the bat in the tournament,” Rogers said. “Red Bank is a team that scares you; they ran away from us at their place in the fourth quarter and beat us 51-44. We had senior night tonight and we hadn’t won a home game all season.”
Put those things in a blender and Rogers got a high-energy from his players, who used a 14-0 first-quarter run to build a nine-point lead and a 16-2 second period to hit the locker room at halftime with a 32-9 advantage.
“This is definitely a young team and I talked about if they wanted to continue lifting weights and playing games or go home, we had to come out ready to play,” Curtis said. We really wanted this ‘W’ because it was our first home win. Coach said that had never happened here before and I didn’t want to be a part of the first time.”
While the Pounders were knocking down shots – Brett Abshire hit three 3s, Cavonte McKibbens had nine of his 13 points in the first quarter and Curtis scored eight in the first half – that could not be said for the Lions.
“We got good looks and when you don’t knock them down it makes for a very long night,” Red Bank coach Nick Fikes said. “Both teams knew what was they had to do. (Central) came out with more energy and it showed.”
Rogers agreed with his counterpart, saying, “The energy we had tonight was the best we’ve had this season.”
Red Bank opened the game by sandwiching a Will Thomas 3 and Jamel Davis’ driving layup around Abshire’s bucket.
Central then reeled off 14 straight points – six by Curtis – and had a 16-7 lead after one quarter.
The Pounders extended the run to 22-2 three minutes of the second period and eventually made it 30-3 and pushed their advantage to 32-9 at the half.
“We got the lead and tried to slow things down,” Rogers said. “Thank goodness high schools don’t have a shot clock. That lets you stay in some ballgames.”
By shortening the game, the Lions faced a huge obstacle offensively, especially when they still had trouble honing in on the rim. Red Bank’s third-period scoring came from Tory Sewell (six points) and Thomas’ 3-pointer.
The Pounders enjoyed a 25-point cushion going to the fourth quarter, and the outcome was only a formality.
“I hope this game lights a fire under our guys,” Fike said.
Abshire finished with 11 points. Sewell scored 12 points and was the only Red Bank player in double figures.
The Lions made eight field goals. Central hit 20.
Central girls 46, Red Bank 44: Ja’nya West scored 23 points and Alivia Smith added 16 for the Lady Pounders (8-9, 7-5), including two free throws with 18.8 seconds left for the winning points.
The game was tied 43-all with 36.6 seconds left. West made a free throw and Smith added the two that decided the outcome.
Red Bank’s Jasmine Roberts connected on one charity toss at the 8.9-second mark and Central’s McKinleah Johnson was errant on two tries three seconds later. The Lady Lions’ Shelby Romans was initially called for stepping out of bounds on the sideline with 1.3 seconds to go, but game officials overturned the call.
That gave Red Bank one last opportunity to tie the game. Hailey Claiborne’s desperation attempt was well short from near mid-court.
Mya Kennebrew paced the Lady Lions with 18 points, 11 coming in the first half.
LINESCORES
Boys Game
Red Bank 7 2 9 6 – 24
Central 16 16 11 5 – 48
Red Bank (24) – Ross 2, Holland, Tony Sewell 12, Henderson, Shelby, Thomas 6, Davis 2, Brown, Jones 2, Young.
Central (48) – Cavonte McKibbens 13, Payne, Reid 7, Jenkins, Turner, Tankersley 4, Brett Abshire 11, Jackson, Isom, Spotts, Houston, McClendon Curtis 13.
3-Point Goals – Red Bank 2 (Thomas 2), Central 4 (Abshire 3, McKibbens 1).
Girls Game
Red Bank 8 8 9 19 -- 44
Central 5 13 12 16 – 46
Red Bank (44) – Roberts 8, Babb 6, Romans 4, Claiborne 2, Pratt 6, Mya Kennebrew 18.
Central (46) – Johnson 5, Webb 2, Miller, Ja’nya West 23, Alivia Smith 16, Miller, Vaulx, Glenn, Whaley, France.
3-Point Goals – Red Bank 1 (Roberts), Central 8 (West 6, Johnson 1, Smith 1).
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)