It wasn’t a district game and they probably won’t play each other again this season, but the high school basketball game at Sale Creek’s McEwen Gymnasium on Monday night between the host Panthers and the Soddy Daisy Trojans was well worth the price of admission.
The Trojans had an obvious height advantage and they ended up winning by four points, but the scrappy Panthers gave their North Hamilton County neighbors all they wanted before coming up just a little bit short before a near-capacity crowd.
The final score was 59-55.
The Soddy Daisy girls were also victorious as they improved to 2-2 on the young season with a 55-44 victory.
Jared McGhee bagged a 3 from the baseline shortly after the opening tip to give Sale Creek a 3-0 lead before Spencer Keylon scored five straight points for a 5-3 Soddy Daisy lead.
A layup from Jake Flippo and a baseline jumper from Hunter Burke in the final 32 seconds allowed the visitors to claim a 17-10 lead when the first quarter ended.
The Trojans enjoyed their biggest lead early in the second stanza as they scored eight of the first 10 points to a 25-12 lead following two free throws by Doug Volker with 5:50 remaining before the half and the Soddy Daisy lead was still 33-25 when the second quarter ended.
The Trojans threatened to blow the game open at the start of the second half as a layup from Keylon extended that halftime lead to 39-28 with 5:22 showing.
That’s when the Panthers made their comeback.
Dominic May hit a pair of 3s and the Panthers added buckets from Cameron Kirk and Winston Tulloss to cut that lead to 39-38 with 3:41 left in the third period.
A three-point play by Burke gave the Trojans a little breathing room before Sale Creek scored six straight to take a 44-42 lead.
A 3 from Isaac Ellis got it to 42-41 before a drive along the baseline by Jason Holland gave the Panthers their first lead since the opening minute. Kirk sank the first of two free throws for a two-point lead before A.J. Durain scored on a layup in the final minute as the score was deadlocked at 44 with one quarter remaining.
Burke had back-to-back buckets to open the final quarter before Sale Creek cut it to one following a three-point play by Tulloss.
The Panthers stayed within striking distance in that final quarter, but they never regained the lead. Sale Creek got to within one point three times in that final eight minutes, the last time at 53-52 when McGhee sank the first of two free throws with 2:32 to play.
Soddy Daisy then put the game away with six unanswered points for a 59-52 lead before May hit a 3 from the key with a second left for the final four-point margin.
“Those guys played their tails off and we had a hard time putting the ball in the basket late, but I trust my guys and felt like we’d pull it out eventually,” said Soddy Daisy coach Reid Daniels following a lengthy post-game talk with his team.
“Hunter Burke had a couple of strong moves to the basket late and we had a couple of guys in foul trouble, but getting to the line late was crucial. We need to do better than 50 percent there, but the ones we made were huge.
“We just need to make better decisions with the basketball, but it’s just a process and this is just another rivalry game for us,” Daniels nodded.
Sale Creek coach David Helton also had a lengthy talk with his players following the hard-fought contest.
“I felt like we should have won the game, but we fell in love with the outside shot late and took too many 3s,” he began.
“Our defensive pressure bothered them and caused a lot of rushed shots, but we just didn’t get to the free throw line enough. I liked our effort, but was a little disappointed with our offensive execution as we stopped getting the ball inside.
“We just lived with the outside shot too long and it’s disappointing, but games like this will help us get ready for district games later,” he added.
Keylon was the leading scorer for Soddy Daisy as he finished with 19 points. Flippo followed with 17, although he picked up his third foul early in the second half and spent most of the third quarter on the bench.
Burke was also in double figures for the winners with 13 points.
May had 17 points to lead Sale Creek while Tullous finished with a dozen, all in the second half.
Soddy Daisy also won the rebound battle by an unofficial 41-37 margin. Burke had 10 for the Trojans while Keylon followed with nine and Volker with seven.
Josh Perez snagged eight rebounds for Sale Creek while Kirk had seven and Tulloss five.
Soddy Daisy is now 1-1 and will host Red Bank Tuesday night. Sale Creek is now 0-1 and awaits a visit from Rhea County next Tuesday.
SODDY DAISY GIRLS 55, SALE CREEK 44: The Lady Trojans raced to a 22-6 lead after the first quarter and had a comfortable 35-16 advantage at the break.
Sale Creek outscored Soddy Daisy by 28-20 in the second half, but that early deficit was simply too much to overcome.
Summer Ghaffari sank three of her four 3s in the first quarter and finished with 25 points to lead Soddy Daisy. Lydia Hall followed with 13 points while Kirstie Williams added eight.
Abbey Burton and Tayla Willis set the pace for Sale Creek with 18 and 14 points, respectively.
GIRLS SUMMARY
SODDY DAISY 22 13 14 6 – 55
SALE CREEK 6 10 15 13 -- 44
SODDY DAISY (55) – Dent, M. Davis, Kearney, Ghaffari 25, Trimiar 5, Williams 8, Pruett 2, Prestwood 2, Hall 13, Hamby, B. Davis.
SALE CREEK (44) – Burton 18, Kidwell 4, Carson, Janow 2, Holland 4, Coulter, Willis 14, Proffitt, Roberts 2.
3-POINT GOALS: Soddy Daisy 9 (Ghaffari 4, Williams 2, Hall 3); Sale Creek 3 (Burton 3).
BOYS SUMMARY
SODDY DAISY 17 16 11 15 -- 59
SALE CREEK 10 15 19 11 -- 55
SODDY DAISY (59) – Perez 4, Flippo 17, Humphreys, Keylon 19, Davis, Burke 13, Volker 2, Durain 4.
SALE CREEK (55) – Holland 3, McGhee 6, Smith 4, Chauncey, May 17, Tulloss 12, Ellis 6, Kirk 7, Defore, Poland.
3-POINT GOALS: Soddy Daisy 2 (Keylon 2); Sale Creek 7 (McGhee, May 5, Ellis).
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)