Bradley Central coach Zach Carpenter didn’t mince words with his Bear basketball team this week.
“Coming into tonight, I told the boys ‘if you want to have any chance of winning the district, tonight was a must-win game’,” said a very candid Carpenter Friday night.
And that air of desperation permeated Jim Smiddy Gymnasium as the Bears fought for every rebound, every loose ball, and every inch against a talented Howard squad which invaded their den last night.
As it turned out, it wasn’t for naught, as Bradley brought the Hustlin’ Tigers a little closer to the rest of District 5-4A pack with a 60-52 win.
With a big four of Howard, McMinn County, Walker Valley and Bradley now all within one game for district supremacy, the last month of the season should provide dog fights such as last night with every tip.
“You’re not going to win this district with four losses, and we have three now, so there is no room for error going down the stretch. It will be like tonight the rest of the way,” Carpenter added.
The Bears (11-7, 4-3) avenged an earlier loss at Howard in which the Bears melted under the Hustlin’ Tiger press, turning it over 30 times in a six-point loss that really wasn’t that close.
“Yeah we emphasized protecting the ball. We watched the film from the first game, and knew the two keys were not turning it over, and stopping their penetration. They are very athletic, and I thought we had a good plan for them. It was an important game for us, and it should give us confidence going forward,” said Bradley center Karter Howard, who played a big role in clogging up the middle.
It was not a well-played game from the standpoint of made buckets and offensive wizardry, but both squads played their hearts out defensively. Perhaps the biggest two possession sequence of the game came in the final 1:20 with Bradley clinging to a 54-50 lead and the ball in Howard’s hands. A mishandle by a Howard guard turned into a scramble for it in the backcourt which Bradley’s Jarrius Rodgers gave his all to not only grab control of it with a dive, but call timeout as soon as he possessed it to avoid a jumpball that would have kept it in Howard’s control.
“Yeah, he sold out for that to get us a possession and during the timeout we were able to draw up a play we were able to execute. Those two plays had a lot to do with the outcome,” Carpenter admitted.
After the timeout, Bradley isolated Howard down low and got him the ball for the finish to put the Bears up 56-50 with 1:16 left. Bradley was able to nail four free throws down the stretch to close it.
The Bears came out strong defensively in a man-to-man overplay to take away Howard’s 3-point threat, and when the Hustlin’ Tigers got by the overplays, they found contests on every drive between Howard, Aiden McClary and Jackson Avery. It also didn’t help Howard to have Jaylen Taylor out for most of the half with four fouls.
“It took us out of some of the things we do. We knew coming in it would be tough to win up here, but that really made it tougher,” said Howard coach James Talley.
Bradley took advantage of Taylor sitting out and Avery’s bucket with 5:12 left in the second gave the Bears their biggest lead of the game at 20-9. Jadon Jenkins got a pair of Tiger layups in the final 40 seconds to make it a 27-20 halftime margin and Howard outscored Bradley 16-8 in the final 4:49 of the third to forge a 40-all tie heading into the fourth. It could have been much better for Howard, but five missed free throws during the run left some meat on the bone. Sophomore MyQuise Thomas scored 10 points during that stretch, including popping a pair of 3s.
Howard (12-4, 6-2) got its first lead early in the final period on Mark Greer’s 3, and the two squads battled back-and-forth with four lead changes down the stretch. Trevor Carpenter hit a short jumper to make it 54-50 just before Rodgers’ mad scramble for the loose ball and Howard’s low post bucket provided just enough breathing room.
McClary led the Bears with 16 points and 12 rebounds while Carpenter and Rodgers each had 10. Greer led the Tigers with 15 while Thomas (14) and Jenkins (12) hit for double digits. The Bears shot 39 percent (20 of 51) from the floor but made 18 of 25 free throws compared to Howard’s 8 of 16 from the line. Howard made 42 percent of its shot from the floor (20 of 47) but was outrebounded by a 37-27 count as the bears pulled down 15 offensive boards.
Bradley girls 94, Howard 14: The Bearettes extended their district winning streak to 102 games, racing to 25-0 lead in the first period and scoring the game’s first 53 points. The 80-point margin marks the 26th time during the streak in which the Bearettes won by 50-plus points. In fact, they have only won by single digits 13 times during the streak.
Harmonie Ware and Shamiya Francis each had 16 points for the winners and Hannah Jones added 12 as 13 Bearettes scored. Emari Owens had nine points to lead Howard as Bradley forced 42 turnovers and outrebounded them 46-25.
GIRLS SUMMARY
HOWARD 0 6 4 4 – 14
BRADLEY 25 30 19 20 – 94
HOWARD (14) – Owens 9, Knox, Taylor 2, Calvin, Williams, Mathis, Bridges, Shumake, Green, Montgomery, Johnson, Lawrey 3, Palmer.
BRADLEY (94) – Crittenden 8, Carpenter 7, Weber 4, Hannah Jones 12, Swick 2, Brewer 7, Ledford 5, Harmonie Ware 16, Shamiya Francis 16, White 4, Phillips 5, Lowe 2, Wilcox 6.
3-point goals: Howard 0; Bradley 6 (Carpenter, Brewer, Ledford, Phillips, Wilcox).
Records: Howard (0-9, 0-7); Bradley 17-2 (7-0)
BOYS SUMMARY
HOWARD 4 16 20 12 – 52
BRADLEY 8 19 13 20 – 60
HOWARD (52) – Mark Greer 15, Jaden Jenkins 12, Freeman 3, Myquise Thomas 14, Taylor, Sexton 6, McClendon, Sapp, Laboo, Dupree 2.
BRADLEY (60) – Reid 4, Aiden McClary 16, Trevor Carpenter 10, Howard 8, Taylor 4, Jarrius Rodgers 10.
3-point goals: Howard 4 (Thomas 2, Greer, Sexton); Bradley 2 (Carpenter, Avery).
Records: Bradley (11-7, 4-3); Howard (11-4, 5-2).
(Contact James Beach at 1134james@gmail.com)