Tuesday night’s district matchup between Chattanooga Central and Soddy Daisy was unlike any players, coaches and fans had ever experienced. The heated game in front of an electric Soddy Daisy crowd needed not one, not two but three overtimes to decide a winner. Ultimately, led by a monster 38-point performance from Drew Williams, Central was able to complete the season sweep and get the win, 80-68.
The ho-hum district game turned into a playoff-level environment come the fourth quarter. An environment even Central couldn’t ignore.
“Not sure I’ve ever been in a situation anything like that in Tennessee. Back in Alabama, state playoffs and things of that nature, I have before,” said Pounders Head Coach Kantonio Davis after calling multiple timeouts due to crowd noise in the OT periods. “They had a great crowd. I was just praising their crowd in the back. They were loud and had us frustrated at times as well.”
Williams served as the Trojan killer all night. The Soddy Daisy defense never let the Pounders’ leading scorer Matthew Sharpe (19 ppg) get going, but Williams picked up the slack and delivered. It wasn’t always pretty, but his unfading confidence prevailed. He knocked down five threes and hit crowd-silencing shot after shot in clutch time when his team needed him.
“It was something else, but I’m just happy we pulled through,” said Williams after the career performance. “I try to stay calm, but sometimes when the crowd is going, it gets you going. After I hit a big shot, I love hearing how quiet it gets and hearing our fans going crazy.”
For the Trojans, Shaun Pangle had what would have been the performance of the night if not for Williams. The senior forward knocked down five threes of his own en route to 29 points. Four of his five from downtown came in the first half.
Solid all-around offense and defense allowed the host Trojans to control the first half. Behind 20 points from Pangle and eight from Nathan Landtroop, Soddy Daisy led 34-27 at the half.
That lead lasted no time at all in the second half as Central burst out of the gate tying things at 37 just two and a half minutes into the third. After Central finally cooled down and so did Pangle, the game became a back-and-forth affair for the remainder of regulation.
After Williams hit a three to go up one with less than a minute remaining, the Pounders got the stop they needed and went to the line to try to seal the game away. They went 1-2 and gave Soddy Daisy a chance with 30 seconds remaining. After a timeout, Central locked down Soddy’s play and brokenness ensued. Chad Eller took advantage by hitting the biggest shot of his mainly quiet day with a fadeaway floater with five seconds remaining to tie the game at 56 and send the game to overtime.
The high-paced game became an ugly one come overtime. In the first two, neither team wanted to end all the fun they were having. The teams went for three and four points each in the extra periods - mainly off free throws. A physical game, both teams entered the double bonus early in the extra time, but they barely took advantage of that with numerous missed free throws in a lot of trips. To cap it off, to end the second overtime, neither team got a shot off after tying at 63 with a few minutes left. The teams combined for six straight turnovers before the buzzer sounded sending it to a third extra period.
At that point, Central had had enough, and a hot start including another three from Williams and stellar shooting at the line was too much for the Trojans. The visitors would go on to win the period 17-5 and the game, 80-68.
It’s safe to say, both teams won’t be running too many sprints in practice tomorrow after this marathon of a game.
SUMMARY
1st 2nd 3rd 4th OT 2OT 3OT F
CENTRAL 8 19 19 10 3 4 17 - 80
SODDY DAISY 16 18 11 11 3 4 5 - 68
Central (80) - Drew Williams 38, Ronye Watson 13, Matthew Sharpe 12, Kolsean Patillo 11, Sandefor 6
Soddy Daisy (68) - Shaun Pangle 29, Nathan Landtroop 10, Hughes 9, Eller 5, Love 5, Bridgeman 4, Johnson 3, Mull 3,
3-Point Goals - Central 7 (Williams 5, Patillo, Sharpe); Soddy Daisy 7 (Pangle 5, Mull, Eller)
Records - Central 12-13 (9-3); Soddy Daisy 14-9 (6-6)