The Chattanooga School For Arts & Sciences lost a tough one-point basketball game at Brainerd Tuesday night, so the Patriots entered Thursday night’s game at Central a bit on the upset side and ready to prove a point.
The Patriots made the Purple Pounders pay as they raced to a 30-13 lead after one quarter en route to a convincing 77-42 victory in a non-district game.
CSAS improves to 6-3 overall while Central falls to 3-7.
CSAS coach Zach Dragoo will be the first to tell you that this year’s team has the potential to be really good, but he also knows that he often rolls the dice concerning which team will show up on any given night.
The Patriots made most of the right decisions on Thursday and their coach was a pretty happy fellow afterwards.
“I didn’t have to coach effort tonight and that was nice. Maybe we need to play with a chip on our shoulder more often,” he said after a short post-game discussion with his team.
“We started off sort of slow, but picked it up after that and played pretty well. We’re trying to teach that we need to play hard consistently, but I promise you I’ll sleep better tonight.
“We have what it takes to have a really good team as we have quickness, size and athleticism. This is a step in the right direction and we can’t afford to look back,” Dragoo added.
Central coach Kentonio Davis was missing one of his key starters Thursday night and it hurt as the Purple Pounders didn’t appear to play up to their potential.
“We looked a bit lost at times as we struggled to score,” he began before talking to his team following the game.
“We were missing one of our best players and other guys have to step up in that situation and they didn’t. We have to be better on defense.
“It was close for a little while, but this is about what I expected as CSAS had a fine team,” Davis nodded.
A layup by Leundre Hinton with 4:26 left in the first quarter got Central within five points at 15-10, but the Pounders went three minutes before Drew Williams canned a 3 from the wing.
The Patriots finished the quarter on a 15-3 run for a 17-point lead after the opening quarter and it really never got much closer.
Justin Brown scored six straight points as the Patriots extended their lead to 44-17 with 3:02 left in the second stanza and the difference was still 25 points at intermission with the visitors up, 49-24.
CSAS was shooting free throws early in the second half as Central experienced a bit of foul trouble, so the difference was 59-28 midway through the third after the Patriots had connected on eight of 11 from the charity stripe.
Kolsoon Patillo converted a three-point play for the Pounders at end of the quarter as the CSAS lead was only 63-35 with one quarter remaining.
Dejuan Sanderfer scored on a layup with 6:13 to play to cut the lead to 66-41, but the Patriots scored 11 of the final 12 points to win going away.
The Patriots had balanced scoring with five players finishing in double figures.
Louis Bell and Donathan Wheeler both finished with a dozen while Alex Lowry, C.C. Smith and Brown were all close with 10 points apiece.
Williams was the leading scorer for Central as he finished with 15 after scoring nine in the first quarter. Hinton was next with eight points.
CSAS also had an unofficial 27-19 advantage in rebounds as Brown snagged five and Wheeler four for the Patriots. Patillo had four for Central.
CSAS returns to action on Friday with a big home game against Polk County while Central will host the CHSTEA Patriots on Monday before traveling to Signal Mountain on Tuesday.
CSAS GIRLS 42, CENTRAL 20: The Lady Patriots raced out to a big lead in the first quarter and never looked back as they defeated the Lady Pounders by 22 points.
A 12-0 run for the Lady Patriots was snapped by a free throw from Hayden Harness with 1:50 left in the opening quarter, but the difference was 15-1 at the first break and never got any closer.
Kendall Grudzinski scored 14 points to lead the Lady Patriots while Zeva Phillips and Aiyanna Jordan followed with nine and eight points, respectively.
Ca’Maree McKibbens was tops for Central with 10 points.
GIRLS SUMMARY
CSAS 15 8 8 11 -- 42
CENTRAL 1 10 5 4 -- 20
CSAS (42) – Minton, Stinson 2, Jones, Whiteside 4, Kendall Grudzinski 14, Morgan, Jordan 8, Moore 5, Phillips 9.
CENTRAL (20) – Ca’Maree McKibbens 10, Range, Williams 2, Harness 1, Alford 1, Smith 6, Carroll.
3-POINT GOALS: CSAS 2 (Grudzinski, Moore); Central none.
BOYS SUMMARY
CSAS 30 19 14 14 -- 77
CENTRAL 13 11 11 7 -- 42
CSAS (77) – Pride 6, Cameron 3, Fitzsimmons, Justin Brown 10, C.C. Smith 10, McDonald 6, Hall 2, Moss 6, Alex Lowry 10, Donathan Wheeler 12, Louis Bell 12, Higgins.
CENTRAL (42) – Watson 2, V. Powell Jr., Patillo 3, Steward 2, Hinton 8, Crigger, K. Powell, N. Sanderfer, D. Sanderfer 6, Drew Williams 15, Kendrick 6.
3-POINT GOALS: CSAS 4 (Wheeler 2, Lowry 2); Central 1 (Williams).
RECORDS: CSAS 6-3; Central 3-7.
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)