They played a couple of non-district basketball games at Hixson Monday night and neither of them were very close.
Hixson’s Lady Wildcats improved to 12-8 overall with an impressive 52-15 win over the Lady Patriots while the CSAS guys evened the score with an 80-50 win over the hosts.
Hixson has already finished its district schedule, but will play its final home game of the season on Tuesday when they host Whitwell. The Patriots will face a much bigger challenge as they travel to Tyner on Friday for the Rams final game in their current gymnasium.
CSAS had won a big game on Friday against Brainerd as the Patriots clinched second place in their district with the win, but the Patriots didn’t have the same intensity in the win against the Panthers. Despite that fact, CSAS coach Zach Dragoo was just happy to head back home with a win as the regular season comes to a close.
“It’s a win and I’m happy about that, but we weren’t as efficient or focused as we were against Brainerd,” Dragoo nodded after his team improved to 13-12 for the season.
“We only had six turnovers in the game with Brainerd while we had 17 tonight, but it’s hard to maintain that level of play two games in a row. We just have to keep climbing the mountain as we aren’t there yet.
“We’re getting there, but we still have a ways to go. We’re starting to play our best basketball of the season and that’s encouraging, but we have a big game on Friday at Tyner. We’ll go over there and hope for the best,” the veteran coach nodded.
Hixson coach Blake McNair has faced more challenges than any high school coach should ever face along the way as his team is still winless, but he maintains a positive attitude and is happy with the progress his team has made since the start.
“I’m really happy with our effort as I challenged them before the game to play like winners,” he said while relaxing in his office after all was said and done.
“This team has really changed since the start and we have a bunch of guys who are no longer with us, but the ones who have stuck around have continued to work hard and get better. I’m just sorry that the season is about to end as we’re starting to see some improvement.
“This is really a young group with Keonte Steward being our only senior. Another 11 players are either sophomores or juniors. We’ve faced a lot of tough challenges this season, but I’m just proud of the ones to have kept working.
“It would be nice to get a win tomorrow night so that we might carry a little positive momentum into next week’s district tournament,” McNair added with a smile.
Ryan Burney scored the first two buckets for Hixson as the Wildcats had leads of 2-0 and 4-2 before a bucket from Isaiah Bertrand put the home team up, 6-5 with 5:52 left in the opening stanza.
CSAS then scored the next eight points for a 13-6 lead midway through the quarter and the difference was 22-11 when the first stanza ended.
Steward scored on a drive with 3:29 left before intermission to get Hixson within 13 at 34-21, but the Patriots had an 8-5 edge the rest of the way for a 42-26 lead at the break.
The Patriots kept scoring and slowly extended their lead to 59-38 with one quarter remaining as Eli Hall scored eight of his game-high 17 points during that span.
Steward had two steals and two layups to start the final quarter as Hixson trimmed the lead to 19 points on both occasions, but with substitutes from both teams taking charge in the closing minutes, the Patriots were able to extend their lead to its widest margin of 30 points when Waylen Newson converted a three-point play at the end.
Hall had 17 points to lead the CSAS attack as the Patriots had four players in double figures. Phillip Moss Jr. was next with 13 while Caleb Kitchens and Jamal Jarrett followed with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Burney was tops for Hixson with 14 points while Steward and Bertrand both followed with eight apiece.
With Jarrett snagging four rebounds, CSAS had an unofficial 23-16 advantage on the glass. Steward and Burney both snagged six for Hixson.
HIXSON GIRLS 52, CSAS 15: This game was never close as the Lady Wildcats enjoyed a 17-0 edge in the opening quarter.
The difference was 24-0 before Te’Asia Moore swished a 3 from the wing with 4:27 left in the second period for her team’s first points.
Hixson’s lead was 32-9 at the break while the Lady Wildcats also had a 20-6 scoring advantage in the second half.
Drea Collier scored nine points to lead Hixson while twin sister Leah was next with eight. Gracie Quarles also had eight points for Hixson.
Moore was tops for CSAS with a dozen points, all coming from long range.
GIRLS SUMMARY
ARTS & SCIENCES 0 9 3 3 -- 15
HIXSON 17 15 13 7 -- 52
CSAS (15) – Te’Asia Moore 12, Williams 3, Jackson, Irvin, Kelly, Whiteside, Jordan, Best.
HIXSON (52) – L. Collier 8, Killian 3, Lee 2, Douglass 4, P. White 5, Quarles 8, Pollock 3, A. Kaylor 2, M. Kaylor 2, Beach 2, D. Collier 9, T. White 4, Cooke, Barber.
3-POINT GOALS: CSAS 4 (Moore 4); Hixson 2 (Killian, D. Collier).
BOYS SUMMARY
ARTS & SCIENCES 22 20 17 21 -- 80
HIXSON 11 15 12 12 -- 50
CSAS (80) – Wright 2, Wheeler 7, Rice, Eli Hall 17, Blackburn, Chubb 4, Jamal Jarrett 10, Colvin 2, Phillip Moss Jr. 13, Caleb Kitchens 11, Bone 4, J. Moss 4, Newson 3, Michael, Daniels 3.
HIXSON (50) – Williams, Sandridge 3, Ewing 1, Ryan Burney 14, Stewart 3, Steward 8, K. Burney, Bertrand 8, Salazar 4, High 2, Reisenauer 5, Finger 2, Bailey.
3-POINT GOALS: CSAS 8 (Hall 3, Moss Jr. 3, Wheeler, Daniels); Hixson 4 (Sandridge, Stewart, Bertrand, Reisenauer).
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)