Cleveland's Charles Little guards Central's Ryan Merriman inside.
photo by Greg Davick
With his team up by only two points against Chattanooga Central at halftime, Cleveland High coach Aaron Green had some simple instructions for his Blue Raiders on Tuesday night: "Get the ball inside to Charles Little.''
The strategy worked.
Little, a 6-7 junior post, responded with 16 points in the second half and the Blue Raiders defeated the Pounders, 64-52, in a Region 3-AAA quarterfinal at Ooltewah High School.
"We just wanted to get some touches inside so we could open up the perimeter,'' Green said. "The more touches Charles gets, the more it helps our flow. Charles really stepped up in the second half.
"I thought we were a little sluggish tonight, maybe a little fatigued. We'll regroup tomorrow, get our legs under us and get ready for Thursday.''
In Tuesday's other boys game, Ooltewah coach Ron Baker brought out the box-and-one defense against McMinn County star JaJuan Smith and the Owls earned a 48-47 victory.
The victory kept District 6 from being swept in the region by the teams from District 5.
"We were 0-7 against their district going into our game,'' Baker said. "The pressure was on us. It was good to see us win.''
In the girls action, Bradley Central edged Red Bank, 50-47, and McMinn County defeated Soddy-Daisy, 51-33.
Wednesday's schedule: 6--Cleveland girls (25-5) vs. Bradley Central (21-11), semifinal; 7:30--Cumberland County girls (13-18) vs. McMinn County (21-11), semifinal.
Thursday's schedule: 5:30--Bradley Central boys (27-3) vs. Ooltewah (21-8), semifinal; 7--Rhea County boys (26-9) vs. Cleveland (20-10), semifinal; 8:30--Girls championship.
The boys championship will be played Friday night at 7:30.
The top two boys and girls teams from the region advance to sub-state play, the girls playing on Saturday, March 6, and the boys on Monday, March 8.
CLEVELAND BOYS 64, CENTRAL 52: Central, which ended its season 18-8, came out inspired and took a 16-9 lead after one quarter.
Little, who didn't score in the first quarter, picked up a dunk and two free throws as the Red Raiders started to rally in the second quarter. It was 24-22 in favor of Cleveland at halftime.
"One of our keys tonight was to get more balance offensively,'' Green said. "The main difference was getting the ball inside to Charles in the second half.''
The Blue Raiders ran their lead to 41-35 entering the fourth quarter, and Little then took over the game. His field goal gave Cleveland a 43-35 lead, but Dominique Jones countered for the Pounders.
Little then scored another field goal, picked up another dunk, Jay Davis scored and Little assisted sophomore Alex Goldston as Cleveland took a 51-38 lead.
The closest Central got down the stretch was 58-52 when Jones made his third three-pointer. Levonte Barber then made four straight free throws for Cleveland.
"I think if somebody told me at the start of the season we would be 20-10 and playing in the region semifinals I would have been pretty pleased with that,'' Green said. "But we kept battling and got better by practicing hard. That is due to the kids. I'm so proud of them.''
Little led Cleveland with 20 points, Davis added 19 and Barber scored 10. Goldston had nine off the bench.
Jones paced Central with 15 points, Ryan Merriman added 12 and Matt Wilhoite scored 10.
Cleveland will now play Rhea County in a semifinal on Thursday night. The Blue Raiders beat the Golden Eagles in overtime in the District 5 Tournament last week.
Rhea County coach B.K. Crowder, whose team upset Brainerd on Monday night, was accused of throwing a region consolation game against McMinn County in order to avoid being in Bradley Central's bracket in the region.
"Our kids are not dumb about things like that,'' Green said. "But that is speculation. We don't know for sure. You can really throw a lot of motivation out the window at this time of the year.
"It really boils down to who wants it the most, who executes best and who does the little things. It will be a battle Thursday night. There's a lot on the line. I'm looking forward to it.''
OOLTEWAH 48, McMINN COUNTY 47: It wasn't the first game this season that Ooltewah used the box-and-one successfully. Baker said the Owls used the strategy to hold Rhea County's Tim Cooper to three points and Cleveland's Jay Davis to four points.
"We're getting a little better at it,'' Baker said. "We were all right defensively tonight.''
Despite the box-and-one, McMinn County rallied and took a 47-42 lead with 3:03 left in the game on a field goal from Blake Cobb.
Courtney White and Michael Newsome countered with goals for the Owls and Sherman Moton gave Ooltewah a 48-47 lead with two free throws with 48 seconds remaining.
Moton and White missed free throws down the stretch, but McMinn County seemed out of sync in its halfcourt set late in the game. JaJuan Smith scored 19 points, but didn't score in the last six minutes.
"I'd rather have an ugly win than an ugly loss any day,'' said Baker, who coached at McMinn County for 19 years. "We weren't loose tonight, but we haven't been here before.
"Now we're in the round of 32 in Class AAA and that is pretty special. If someone had told me we would be there and have 21 wins I would have told them to get ready for Moccasin Bend.''
Baker has been gone from McMinn County for 11 years. His assistant of 14 years there, Keith Elliott, has been the Cherokees' coach since Baker left.
"It does mean something beating McMinn County,'' Baker said. "My son, Chris, was sitting right there next to me as my assistant and he played for me at McMinn County. I have nothing but love for McMinn County.''
Moton led Ooltewah with 16 points, Newsome had 11 and White scored 10.
The Owls will play No. 2-ranked Bradley Central in a semifinal on Thursday.
"We're looking forward to playing Bradley,'' Baker said. "It can't do anything but help our program. Everybody is trying to get to where they are right now, and we'd like to show people we have a good basketball program.
"But we didn't rebound much tonight. We'll have to play better or we'll get killed by Bradley. It won't help the program if we get beat by 50 points. We need to do well. We've got three really good players in this school who aren't even playing basketball.''
Maurice Smith scored 16 points for the Cherokees, who were 0-8 in District 5-AAA during the regular season. The Cherokees beat Cumberland County in a district play-in last week, lost to Bradley and then upset Rhea County in a consolation game.
"We held them without a shot the last 10 or 12 seconds,'' Baker said. "That's tough to do when you're facing a player like JaJuan.''
BRADLEY GIRLS 50, RED BANK 47: Red Bank coach John Cherne called the Lady Lions' effort against Bradley "awesome.''
Bradley defeated Red Bank by 42 points before Christmas and by 28 in January.
"And we had them tonight,'' Cherne said. "But we're not experienced in those situations. Bradley has had decades of success and we've only had a glimmer. We're just now having a resurgence.''
Bradley roared to a 33-23 lead at halftime. Red Bank, which ended its season 14-13, then started cutting into the lead. With two minutes left in the third quarter, Red Bank's Courtney Hardley made a three-point shot that tied the game at 37.
In the fourth quarter, both teams struggled offensively. Red Bank finally pulled within 47-45 when Kristy Minton made two free throws with 1:35 left. Lauren Cassada gave Bradley a 49-45 lead with 44 seconds left, but Minton made a field goal with 33 seconds remaining.
Jackie Pickel's free throw gave Bradley a 50-47 lead with 31 seconds left. Minton missed a three-pointer for Red Bank and Bradley held on for the victory.
Pickel led Bradley with 16 points while Tambra Crowe, Lindsey Jackson and Tiffiny Buckelew scored eight each. Buckelew recently returned from a back injury, but now is struggling with a left ankle injury.
"I'm only about 60 percent,'' Buckelew said. "I can go only about three minutes at a time and about 20 minutes per game.
"This is tournament time and you have to blow teams out when you get ahead because anything can happen. We were a little shook-up there at the end, but we kept our patience and that's what pulled it out.''
Minton led Red Bank with 18 points, Hardley added 12 and Emma Smith scored 11.
"The last three weeks we've played really well,'' Cherne said. "I just wish we had some of the shooters Bradley has, but I think we can develop some of our younger players.
"Girls basketball in this area doesn't get much publicity, but the two girls games tonight were unreal. We played Bradley tough and Soddy-Daisy, despite the turmoil up there, gave McMinn County a fit. It showed what girls basketball is all about.''
McMINN GIRLS 51, SODDY-DAISY 33: The Lady Cherokees got off to a fast start and led, 11-2, after the first quarter. It was 22-13 at halftime, but Soddy-Daisy refused to fold and battled back.
With 6:00 left in the game, Tory Mills made a field goal to pull Soddy-Daisy within 38-27. The Lady Cherokees then scored nine straight points to push the lead to 47-27.
"Give Soddy-Daisy credit,'' McMinn County coach Bob Williams said. "They kept fighting. I told our girls that that kind of effort won't get it tomorrow night against Cumberland County.''
McMinn is 2-0 against Cumberland this season.
"They are a nice club,'' Williams said. "They are a very big team.''
Ashley Hardaway led McMinn County with 18 points and Devon Stiles and Sha Boyd added 10 each. Stiles played a key role with two straight field goals early in the fourth quarter when Soddy-Daisy was rallying.
Tory Mills led Soddy-Daisy, which finished its season at 14-14, with 17 points and Brandi Ables scored 11.
It was the final game for Soddy-Daisy coach Mike Seals, who will not return next season as the Lady Trojans' coach.
SUMMARIES
BOYS
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score
----------------- -- -- -- -- -----
Cleveland.........….. 9 15 17 23 - 64
Central ........………..16 6 13 17 - 52
CLEVELAND (64) -- Colby Dodd 4, Alex Goldston 9, Charles Little 20, Charles Jett 2, Jay Davis 19, LaVonte Barber 10.
CHATTANOOGA CENTRAL (52) -- Ryan Merriman 12, Jared Munson 7, Lorenzo Meadows 8, Dominique Jones 15, Matt Wilhoite 10, Chris Geter.
Three-point goals -- Jones 3, Merriman 2, Dodd, Davis, Barber.
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score
----------------- -- -- -- -- -----
McMinn County.......…11 13 13 10 - 47
Ooltewah........……….. 9 20 9 10 - 48
McMINN COUNTY (47) -- Maurice Smith 16, JaJuan Smith 19, Jamichael Parks 4, Ryan Webb, Jared Price, Blake Cobb 6, Adam Baldwin 2, Nathan Whittle.
OOLTEWAH (48) -- Chris Foster 4, Brandon Brown, Matt Miller, Sherman Moton 16, Courtney White 10, Michael Newsome 11, Harrison Fox, Hunter Augustino 7, Brandon Smith, Curtis Porter.
Three-point goals -- JaJuan Smith 4, Newsome, Augustino, Moton.
GIRLS
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score
----------------- -- -- -- -- -----
Bradley Central…………..14 19 10 7 - 50
Red Bank............. 8 15 16 8 - 47
BRADLEY CENTRAL (50) -- Jackie Pickel 16, Tambra Crowe 8, Lindsey Jackson 8, Tiffiny Buckelew 8, Lauren Cassada 5, Kristen Reynolds 5, Jessie Jolley.
RED BANK (47) -- Emma Smith 11, Courtney Hardley 12, Meredith Berry 2, Carolina Sanchez, Marissa Phinazee, Kristy Minton 18, Amy Harwood, Lisa Geren, Anna Holt.
Three-point goals -- Crowe 2, Hardley 2, Pickel, Smith.
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score
----------------- -- -- -- -- -----
McMinn County........11 11 13 16 - 51
Soddy-Daisy.......... 2 11 10 10 - 33
McMINN COUNTY (51) -- Amy Jo Castor 2, Heather Brown 2, Chelsey Davis, Hannah Toomey 1, Ashley Crittenden, Shonda Smith, Sha Boyd 10, Leah Frazier, Ashley Hardaway 18,, Niala Haris 8, Devon Stiles 10.
SODDY-DAISY (31) -- Kristi Combs, Nichole Belanger 2, Lacy Linz, Kelby Jones 1, Brandi Ables 11, Ashley Daughtrey 2, Tory Mills 17, Lyndsey Stiles.
Three-point goals -- Devon Stiles.
(E-mail Stan Crawley at wscrawley@earthlink.net)