The Ooltewah Owls finally got over the hump, and they couldn’t have picked a better time to do it.
Despite going just 2-10 in regular season district play, Ooltewah lost seven of those games by ten points or less. In a regular season full of “almosts” and “what-could’ve-beens,” the Owls came through when it mattered the most, in an elimination game of the district tournament.
Sixth-seeded Ooltewah upset third-seeded McMinn County 81-77 Thursday night in the District 5-3A tournament at Walker Valley High School to advance to the semifinals against Bradley Central on Saturday.
The victory also locks up a spot for the Owls in the region tournament for the first time since 2015.
“Obviously everybody in that locker room is happy; it’s been a journey, but the journey’s not over,” said Ooltewah coach Jay Williams, who continually deflected the attention to his players to congratulating fans after the game. “We respect McMinn County and just how good they are; everybody in this district is good. But (winning tonight) didn’t surprise us because we never walk on the floor not expecting to win.”
The start of the game certainly favored the higher-seeded McMinn County (16-10). The Cherokees went on an early 8-0 run highlighted by back-to-back 3-pointers by Jalan James and Colby Brown and led 18-10 after a quarter.
The Owls (15-16), who have hung their hat on defense all season, finally exploded offensively in the second period, where they scored 27 points. Ooltewah was led by AJ Hyndman, who had 13 of his team-high 20 points in the period.
“I just wanted to help the team out, being agressive driving to the open lane and passing the ball to open guys,” said Hyndman. “I don’t know what to say, we’re going to the region tournament. Now we just have to get back to practice and do what we do best.”
While Hyndman led the Owls, it was post player Dominic Mackaluso off the bench that provided the spark the visitors on the scoreboard needed. Mackaluso scored eight of his 15 points in the second frame as he led an Ooltewah bench that outscored McMinn County’s 30-8.
“I’m left-handed, which can be an advantage for me,” Mackaluso said. “They were guarding my right side, so I just took them left all game. I just knew I had to turn it up and play more aggressive. I’m just really pumped up right now.”
“Dominic Mackaluso had the biggest game of his life,” added Tarel McClurkin, who had an unusually quiet night with just seven points. “I can’t be more proud of these guys. Even though I was struggling, it’s a team game, and they stepped up. We’ve been so close and lost so many games, but this time we executed and bought in.”
McMinn’s James nearly matched Hyndman in the quarter, scoring seven straight over a 1:23 stretch as the Cherokee stretched their lead to 39-29 with just under two minutes to play before halftime. Ooltewah closed out the half on an 8-0 run, however, and went into the locker trailing by just two points.
James kept it going to start the third quarter, scoring five quick points to stretch the lead to seven. He finished with a game-high 23, including nine more in the third period.
That’s when the Owls went on another run, this time outscoring the Cherokees 16-2 over the next four minutes to turn that deficit into a 53-46 advantage.
Trailing 57-52 with one quarter to play, McMinn tied it up almost immediately on a 3-pointer by Andrew Beavers and two free throws from Brown. Unrattled, Ooltewah scored the next ten points to open up a 67-57 lead. The Cherokee had no answer for Mackaluso or Trey Sims inside, as the two combined to score eight straight points in the paint for the Owls in the middle of the quarter.
“Dom has been patient through games where he might not have gotten many minutes of playing time,” Williams said. “He got his opportunity tonight, and made the most of it. That’s part of being on a team, and playing a team sport where it’s different guys every night.”
McMinn County wouldn’t go down without a fight however. Trailing by their largest deficit of the game at 73-61 with just 2:47 to play, the Cherokee got a free throw from Jordan Lane, followed by two buckets from Runyan, with a 3-point play the old-fashioned way by Brown mixed in between to draw to within four points. Brown finished with 21 points, while Runyan chipped in 17.
Unfortunately for McMinn County, the Owls wouldn’t falter from the free-throw line down the stretch, instead going 8-for-11 from the charity stripe to ice the game. That included four free throws from Chris Styles off the bench in the final ten seconds – after not having played the entire game – due to the trust Williams had in him from the line.
“After practice I shoot about 200 free throws, so it’s just routine for me,” said Styles. “Coach knows how hard I work putting in the extra effort, and I’m glad I got the job done.”
While this might be uncharted territory for the Owls, they say they aren’t satisfied just yet as they shift their focus to Saturday night’s matchup at 7:30 p.m. against the second-seeded Bears.
“We have to keep working, work even harder,” Sims said. “We’re going to get in the lab tomorrow, and keep improving on ourselves individually and as a team. We started this season playing our own games as individuals, and that wasn’t working. We just had to play as a team and take the coaching.”
East Hamilton Girls 67, Soddy Daisy 44: Elimination games can always be stressful, even when you’ve dominated the opponent to the tune of an average margin of victory of 34.5 points over two regular season games. That’s why East Hamilton coach Hunter Gremore had to remind his team before the game to come out strong and take care of business early.
Despite leading just 7-6 midway through the first quarter, the Lady Hurricanes (18-11) scored the final 15 points of the period to pull away for a comfortable victory in the girls quarterfinal of the District 5-3A tournament. Phenom Madison Hayes nearly outscored the Lady Trojans (9-19) by herself with 37 points, as her team is now set to take on Cleveland in the semifinals on Saturday evening at 6 p.m.
“I told them before the game that we didn’t want to leave them in the game, because the longer they were in it the more confidence they get,” said Gremore. “Nobody wants to lose their last game and end their season, so we talked about jumping on them early.”
“At 7-6 I had to call the timeout to reiterate what we had talked about. The girls responded with the big run to end the quarter, and Madison was Madison tonight "
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Hayes wasted no time putting the ball in the basket, scoring 14 in the first period. The senior leader echoed her coach that getting off to a fast start was key.
“We just wanted to come out and play solid defense, especially with Cleveland here watching,” the McDonald’s All-American said. “We win with our defense, and I felt like our offense played pretty well, too. We just have to be ready to step it up even more defensively on Saturday.”
With her team up 35-17 at halftime, Hayes left nothing to chance in the third quarter as she poured in another 14 points to pull the Lady Canes comfortably ahead by 29 points with a period to play as they cruised to victory.
McKenna Hayes also scored 11 points for East Hamilton, while Bailey Branam led Soddy Daisy with 11 and teammate Candyce Yother scored ten.
East Hamilton and Cleveland split the season series, with Cleveland taking the first game by nine points before the Lady Canes got revenge a couple of weeks ago with a six point victory.
“We’re going to have to execute and defend like crazy,” said Gremore of the rubber match with the Lady Raiders. “Our intensity level is going to have to be way up because we know what kind of battle it’s going to be.”
GIRLS GAME SUMMARY
SODDY DAISY 6 11 10 17 -- 44
EAST HAMILTON 22 13 21 11 -- 67
SODDY DAISY (44) – Bailey Branam 11, Candyce Yother 10, Lemacks 9, Hamby 7, Trimear 4, Harding 2, May 1, Crawley, Perez, Sneed, Collins, Morgan, Varner.
EAST HAMILTON (67) – Madison Hayes 37, McKenna Hayes 11, LaBoo 7, Lacy 5, Bone 5, Petitt 2, Strickland, Evans, Copeland, Sue.
3-POINT GOALS: Soddy Daisy 5 (Lemacks 3, Branam 2); East Hamilton 3 (Ma. Hayes 2, Mc. Hayes).
BOYS GAME SUMMARY
OOLTEWAH 10 27 20 24 -- 81
MCMINN COUNTY 18 21 13 25 -- 77
OOLTEWAH (81) – AJ Hyndman 20, Dominic Mackaluso 15, Marshall Haynes 11, Chayel Williams 11, Sims 8, McClurkin 7, Petty 5, Styles 4, Corbin, McHone.
MCMINN COUNTY (77) – Jalan James 23, Colby Brown 21, Ty Runyan 17, Evans 6, Beavers 5, Lane 3, Frank 2, Sharp, Bebb, Monroe.
3-POINT GOALS: Ooltewah 3 (Hyndman, McClurkin, Petty); McMinn County 9 (Brown 4, James 3, Runyan, Beavers).