Saylor Clark of Bradley Central splits Siegel defenders O'Brien Gentry (22) and Jaylan Wetzel, right, during their game Friday in the Cleveland Holiday Invitational at Raider Arena. The Bears won the game, 61-58.
photo by Dennis Norwood
CLEVELAND, Tenn. – Playing in Cleveland’s Holiday Invitational is bringing out season-best efforts for crosstown rival Bradley Central.
On Thursday, Bradley smacked Unicoi County, 82-59, and the Bears followed that up Friday with a well-played and hard-earned 61-58 win over the talented Siegel Stars in the invitational, sponsored by Under Armour.
The Bears used three different scoring burst – two in the second quarter and one in the closing minutes of the fourth – to hold off the Stars’ final frantic attempt to pull off the win.
“Since the East Hamilton game, we had a hiccup when we played York Institute when we didn’t play very well at all, but then we’ve been OK,” Bradley coach Chuck Clark said. “(The players) are starting to understand and trust what’s going on.
“They have been playing 28 of the 32 minutes. Yesterday, they played for 30 of the 32 minutes. Tonight, they put 32 minutes of basketball together, so it has been a gradual process.”
In the two late games, Cleveland’s Blue Raiders (12-4) staved off Demopolis, Alabama, 53-44, and the Lady Blue Raiders (9-9) picked on Class 1A Hampton (4-11) and won 60-28.
On Saturday, in a switch from the original bracket, Bradley’s boys will play Demopolis at 5:30 p.m. and the Blue Raiders take on Siegel at 8:30, thus avoiding the two Bradley County schools from playing in the title game.
However, when the Blue Raiders and Bears lock horns next Friday in a District 5-3A showdown, the winner will receive the hardware as the invitational champion. (See a full schedule below).
Siegel (10-6) jumped out to a 17-10 first-quarter lead, but the Bears (7-5) went on their first run of the game, outscoring the Stars 15-0 and took a 25-17 lead with 24.5 seconds left in the first half.
Sophomore Tray Curry dumped two baskets and a 3-pointer in the spree and freshman Quante Berry added two free throws and a field goal. Curry, who already has a football offer from Tennessee, finished with a game-high 19 points and Berry contributed 12.
Siegel trimmed its deficit to 33-30 on two Matthew Schneider free throws at the 4:42 mark. In quick fashion, Curry hit a free-throw line jumper, Saylor Clark nailed a 3 and Tyler Ferguson dropped in a floater inside the lane to extend the Bears’ lead to 40-30.
Tyler Erdman’s layup momentarily stopped Bradley’s run, but Curry made a free throw and Rothwell hit two more and the Stars were down by nine points.
“We didn’t have many breakdowns in the game,” Clark said. “It was a pretty solid game. I think we had 15 turnovers and some were unforced. I can see them growing and maturing though.”
Siegel, one of the annual threats to making a deep run in the postseason from Murfreesboro, started the final period trailing 43-39. Bradley went up 47-41 a little more than a minute in, but the Stars went on a 10-1 run and went ahead 51-50 on Dallas Campbell-Green’s 3-pointer with 3:11 remaining.
Bradley unleashed its final decisive scoring spree by outscoring Siegel 9-2 and stretched the margin to 59-53 with 38.6 seconds on the clock. Four different Bears scored in the spurt – Clark, Ferguson, Berry and Rothwell.
Siegel answered with Erdman’s 3-pointer and trimmed the Bears’ lead to 59-56 with 10.9 seconds left.
“We started getting some defensive stops during those spurts and in the final minutes, “Clark said. “
Berry calmly made two free throws.
Siegel’s Ethan Jones countered with two of three charity tosses – he was fouled by Berry on a 3-point attempt. He intentionally missed the third try with 1.6 showing and the Bears got the rebound.
Bradley’s defense held the Stars to five points in the final 1:26.
“We started getting some defensive stops during those spurts and the guys are starting to trust the offense,” Clark said. “We’ve got guys that can shoot the 3 and that can stretch out zone defenses. We were getting penetration as well.
After a timeout, Siegel’s final attempt to get the ball inbounds, the leaping Curry made it extremely difficult and never got a chance at a desperation shot.
“We just put Curry on the ball and he can take the vision (of the passer) away,” Clark said.
After Saturday’s game, Bradley will turn its full attention to the District 5-3A grind which dominates the final stretch of the regular season.
“This should give us great confidence going into the district,” the Bears’ coach said. “It has to be a plus. Siegel is a quality team. It shows we’ve closed the gap, at least some, between the Murfreesboro teams and us. We can compete with them.”
Cleveland boys 53, Demopolis 44: The Blue Raiders and Tigers battled on mostly equal terms the entire game and were tied 37-37 after three quarters. It was completely different than Cleveland’s stunning 95-27 rout of Hixson on Thursday.
“We got a lot out of today’s game,” Cleveland coach Jason McCowan said. “I fell like the energy both nights was pretty similar, but we’ll raise the stakes next Friday when we play Bradley in district play. The winner in that game gets bragging rights for a little while, plus the winner gets the trophy for the invitational and that’s best for both parties.”
JaCobi Wood lit Cleveland’s offensive fire by scoring six of the team’s first nine points and 11 of the first 23 in the first period. He had 16 points at halftime, helping the Blue Raiders to a 31-26 advantage.
Demopolis outscored Cleveland 8-2 to start the third period and grabbed a 34-33 lead on Michael Sponger’s dunk. A steal and dunk by Cleveland’s Isaiah Johnson tied the game at 37-all going to the fourth period.
A steal and dunk gave Demopolis a 41-40 lead, but Cleveland scored five straight points with Johnson’s dunk capping the mini-spurt. A Johnson free throw extended the Blue Raiders’ spread to 49-43.
Johnson’s 3 pushed Cleveland’s lead to 46-41 less than two minutes into the fourth. His free throw at the 3:58 mark gave the Blue Raiders a 49-43 lead. After a Tiger free throw, Grant Hurst’s layup gave Cleveland a 51-44 lead and Johnson’s dunk with less than a minute remaining produced the final nine-pint margin of victory.
Johnson finished with a game-high 21 points and Wood scored 18 points. Hurst contributed 11 points.
The talented Johnson brings a fiery brand of basketball to the Blue Raiders, but officials had to pull in the reins at one point during the heated on-court action.
“He’s giving us great senior leadership,” McCowan said, “but playing with passion and not as much emotion is better. He’s such a fiery young man and I don’t think he takes it personally when they check him on that.
“He’s such a passionate player and no matter who we’re playing he’s going to bring the same passion.”
Cleveland girls 60, Hampton 28: The Lady Blue Raiders’ Kaitlyn Goodman assaulted the Lady Bulldogs’ perimeter defense for 16 points that included three 3s in the second period and another in the third. In all, Cleveland made 10 3s with six coming in the first half when Cleveland’s lead ballooned to 28-16.
Joy Douglass and Brenna Droke each tossed in 10 points. Droke scored seven points in the first period and Douglass had six as the two combined for 13 of the team’s first 16 points.
Brooke Hughes paced Hampton with nine points. Cleveland held the Lady Bulldogs to single-digit scoring in each of the four quarters.
Cleveland will play St. Joseph Central, out of Huntington, W. Va., in Saturday’s girls’ championship at 7 p.m.
Saturday’s Schedule
Hillcrest girls vs. Sequoyah, 10 a.m.
Hixson boys vs. Unicoi County, 11:30 a.m.
Red Bank girls vs. Coahulla Creek, 1 p.m.
Coahulla Creek boys vs. Sequoyah, 2:30 p.m.
Hampton girls vs. North Gwinnett, 4 p.m.
Demopolis boys vs. Bradley Central, 5:30 p.m.
Cleveland girls vs. St. Joseph Central, 7 p.m.
Siegel boys vs. Cleveland, 8:30 p.m.
Friday Scoring Summaries
Siegel boys vs. Bradley Central
Siegel 17 5 17 19 – 58
Bradley Central 10 19 14 18 – 61
Siegel (58) – Zion Swader 14, Campbell-Green 3, Wetzel, Jones 6, Tyler Erdman 16, Jackson 2, Schneider 8, Gentry 7, Mash 2.
Bradley Central (61) – Boyd, Saylor Clark 11, Tray Curry 19, Ferguson 7, Mason Rothwell 10, McCleary 2, Greene, Quante Berry 12.
3-Point Goals – Siegel 4 (Erdman 2, Campbell-Green 1, Gentry 1), Bradley Central 3 (Clark 1, Curry 1, Rothwell 1).
Demopolis boys vs. Cleveland
Demopolis (Ala.) 17 11 9 7 – 44
Cleveland 23 8 6 16 – 53
Demopolis (44) – Coracie 5, Womack 8, Williams, Sponger 4, Bennett 7, Shemvan Wallace 12, Walker, Pruitt 4, Stevenson 4.
Cleveland (53) – Dale 1, Isaiah Johnson 21, Howard 2, JaCobi Wood 18, Grant Hurts 11, Colbaugh, McGowan.
3-Point Goals – Demopolis 3 (Womack 2, Wallace 1), Cleveland 4 (Johnson 2, Wood 1, Hurst 1).
Hampton girls vs. Cleveland
Hampton 7 9 7 5 – 28
Cleveland 16 12 15 17 – 60
Hampton (28) – Campbell 2, Orr 2, Carden 2, Collins, Brooke Hughes 9, Guinn 4, Milhorn, Camillo 3, Guy 2, Brumitt.
Cleveland (60) – Kaitlyn Goodman 16, Rominger 7, Dasher 6, Rouse, Joy Douglass 10, Brenna Droke 10, Brock 1, Moore 2, Walker 8, Auer.
3-Point Goals – Hampton 1 (Camillo 1), Cleveland 10 (Goodman 4, Dasher 2, Walker 2, Rominger 1, Droke 1).
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)
Freshman point guard Quante Berry gets an open look at a shot against Siegel on Friday night. Berry scored 12 points in the Bears' 61-58 victory over the Stars in the Cleveland Holiday Invitational in Cleveland.
photo by Dennis Norwood