Prep roundup: Dade County sweeps North Murray

CHATSWORTH — For three and a half quarters, the North Murray boys basketball team did exactly what it had planned to do against a Dade County team that had scored a combined 209 points in two wins against the Mountaineers last season.

But in the final four minutes of Tuesday night’s game, the plan came apart.

Late foul trouble, near perfection at the free-throw line for Dade County and North Murray’s own troubles at the line combined to give the Wolverines a 90-89 victory over the Mountaineers.

The victory for the Wolverines (4-3, 3-0 Sub-region 7B-2A) completed a sweep for Dade County after the Lady Wolverines got 23 points from Erika Woodfin in a 55-40 victory over the Lady Mountaineers.

North Murray’s boys led 79-69 midway through the fourth quarter before slowing the pace of the game down on the offensive end, but coach Eric Bishop said the Mountaineers (5-3, 1-1) — who got a game-high 35 points from Tyler Duckett — weren’t trying to stall the game and eat the seconds away.

“It is a little more patient, but we are looking to attack out of that,” Bishop said. “We had a lot of little issues that we couldn’t get past, but the main thing was that we were 17 of 27 from the free-throw line. That is 10 points that you can’t give away like that.”

By contrast, Dade county was 10 of 11 on free throws in the fourth quarter, erasing North Murray’s lead and enabling the Wolverines to make their move.

That Dade County was in a position to make that move was impressive considering the Mountaineers had started the game quickly and rarely looked like they were letting up while jumping out to a 15-point lead in the first quarter. But the Wolverines made little spurts to stay in striking distance.

“North Murray has a great team, and after the way that they started, I told the boys during that first timeout that if they kept it up for four quarters that we were going to take a serious whipping,” Dade County coach Glen Hicks said. “I told them North Murray was going to make some runs and we just had to withstand those runs.

“We have had about four games that have been like this so far this year, and in the first three the ball hasn’t bounced our way. It bounced our way tonight.”

In the first three quarters, North Murray had the answer.

Dade County cut the lead to two points twice in the second quarter, and each time the Mountaineers responded with the perimeter shooting of Jeremy Smith and Duckett, as well as the post play of Zach Vess. Duckett’s last 3-pointer of the first half pushed the lead back out to 47-37, and North Murray led by eight at the half. The same remained true in the third quarter, and the Mountaineers went into the fourth ahead 70-61.

Duckett’s layup on a baseline drive pushed it out to 79-69 before Dade County’s Cole Birchfield finally started getting some help.

Birchfield hit a 15-foot jumper from the baseline to cap a 9-2 Wolverine run and had scored 33 of his teams 78 points to pull to within 81-78 with 3:04 left in the game. Birchfield didn’t score again, but with the Mountaineers fully focused on not letting him beat them, others stepped up.

Ben Williams had seven of his 18 points in the last 62 seconds of the game, while the Mountaineers’ Vess and Austen Horn fouled out in the waning minute.

Vess’ final foul put Williams at the line with :21 remaining to tie the game at 89-89, and Williams connected on his second free throw with eight seconds left to provide the margin of victory.

Smith finished with 17 and Vess added 13 for the Mountaineers.

• Dade County girls 55, North Murray 40: The undefeated Lady Wolverines led by five at halftime, and North Murray cut the lead to 21-18 early in the second half before Woodfin found her range from the outside.

The senior guard had five of her seven 3-pointers in the second half as the Lady Wolverines (8-0, 3-0) used penetration to suck the North Murray defense in and then kicked the ball back out to Woodfin in the corner.

“We didn’t communicate very well in the second half in keeping her covered,” Lady Mountaineers coach Keith Robinette said. “(Woodfin) made us pay. They do a really good job of putting you in binds and get you out of your defensive rotation.”

Erin Robinson and Grace Phillips each finished with eight points for the Lady Mountaineers (5-3, 1-1).

• Calhoun boys 50, Coahulla Creek 43: A third-quarter push put the host Yellow Jackets ahead for good, and the Colts couldn’t mount a comeback after leading at the end of each of the first two quarters.

Coahulla Creek (1-8, 1-2 Sub-region 7B-2A) was up 18-16 going into the second quarter and 26-23 at halftime, but trailed 37-30 headed into the final period.

The Colts, who lost their second straight after picking up the first win in program history on Friday, have struggled to hold on to leads in the third quarter this season, coach Matthew Queener said.

“In the second half, (Calhoun) came out with a little more intensity and got a few quick baskets,” Queener said. “But then our guys kept (the deficit) from seven to four points the rest of the game, and we led most of the first half.”

Hunter Williams and Jeffrey Brown each finished in double figures for the Colts, with 13 and 11 points, respectively. Jordan Tant was the team’s top performer on the backboard, grabbing seven rebounds.

Queener said he was proud of his young team’s effort against a lineup that included several members of the Calhoun football team that won the Class 2A state title last week.

“We’ve gotten better every game,” he said, “and that’s what I’ve asked of them.”

• Calhoun girls 102, Coahulla Creek 27: Sydney Storey had nine points to lead the Lady Colts (0-9, 0-3), who were led by assistant Julie Norton in the absencep of coach David Friend.

Friend was out after undergoing some medical tests, said Norton, who did not know when he would return to the bench.

Calhoun led 23-7 after one quarter against the first-year Lady Colts, who are back in action Friday in a sub-region game against visiting Heritage-Catoosa.

Wrestling

• Southeast Whitfield went 2-1 in a quad at Cedartown, beating the host Bulldogs, 63-15, and LaFayette, 66-12, while just missing a victory against Bremen, 40-36.

Omar Ruiz (106), Jeremy White (120), Jesus Dominguez (126), Lester Paucay (145) and Carlos Fraire (220) all went 3-0 for the Raiders (8-5) at the quad, while Marco Gallardo (113), Aaron Thomas (132), Austin Allen (160), Austin Stafford (182) and Jose Ortiz (285) each were 2-1.

Ruiz, Thomas, Paucay, Allen, Stafford and Fraire each had a pair of pins among their victories.

• North Murray swept a double dual at Coahulla Creek, beating the host Colts, 66-15, and topping Adairsville for the second time this season in a 42-33 victory.

Alex Gambino (106), Brandon Brock (120), Elias Lechuga (132), Jackie Abernathy (152), Damien Green (160), Justin Saylor (182) and Al Fraire (220) were all 2-0, with Lechuga, Abernathy, Green, Saylor and Fraire getting both of their victories by pin.

Brock had a dramatic pin to clinch the dual victory against Adairsville — behind by six points to an opponent he’d lost to earlier this year, Brock pinned with 30 seconds remaining in the match.

A scheduled match against Calhoun and Pepperell on Thursday in Chatsworth has been canceled, Mountaineers coach Steve Colley said.

• Dalton and Murray County did not report results from scheduled duals at Ringgold.

JV basketball

• Christian Heritage boys 66, Oakwood Christian 11: Bryce Delozier had 23 points, Evan Townsend added 10 and Matt Clayton chipped in eight on Monday in Chickamauga as the Lions (3-3) rolled to their final victory before the holiday break.

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