After a frustrating first half the Chuckey-Doak boys came out with an inspired defensive effort in the third quarter on Tuesday night and that propelled them to a 55-38 win over Cloudland.
“One thing I can say about this team tonight is that we played great defense,” Chuckey-Doak coach Sam Broyles said. “We held them to 17 points in the second half. What a tremendous job those five did in just playing good, half-court defense. We were able to take them out of their offense. If you can play defense like that it will keep you in games no matter what you are doing on offense.”
The Black Knights began the second half clinging to a 22-21 lead, but a dominant performance on the defensive end quickly allowed that lead to expand. Through the first 7:20 of the second half Chuckey-Doak allowed just one point and stretched its lead to 36-22.
The Black Knights put a lot of pressure on the Highlanders’ guards on the perimeter, and then strong rebounding led by Ben Palazzo limited to Cloudland to one shot on most possessions.
The Black Knights defense sparked the offense as well in the third quarter, started with Gavin Crum taking a steal the length of the floor a layup and a 25-21 lead.
“This was a one-point game at halftime, but the way we came out in the third quarter turned things around,” Broyles said. “Ben Palazzo played about as physical as he has played in the paint, scoring some points and grabbing a bunch of rebounds. Then being able to force turnovers and turn them into points was huge. We don’t have any seniors, and watching these young players grow in games like this is great to see.”
Another turnover allowed Ryland Grindstaff to send a long pass ahead to Crum for another lay in, and with 2:17 left in the period Crum stole the ball on one end of the floor and Dom Atchison was fouled on the fast break going to the Knights’ bucket. He made both free ones to put Chuckey-Doak in front 33-22.
Palazzo started Chuckey-Doak’ next hoop with a block that led to Atchison running away from the Highlanders for a layup. Palazzo then made one of two at the foul line for a 36-22 advantage.
Over the final 40 seconds of the period Cloudland got a lay in from Uriah Jarrett and then two free throws from Jarrett and another free throw from Cass Turbyfill to cut the lead down to 36-27.
In the fourth quarter the Black Knights found more rhythm in the half court and that allowed Crum to sink a trio of triples which stretched the lead to 49-29.
With 4:07 left to play Blake Lippard sank a pair of free throws to give Chuckey-Doak its biggest lead at 52-30.
Jarrett and Gavin Shell each scored four points in the closing stretch to close the gap to 55-38 at the final horn.
Tuesday action started with a first quarter that had eight lead changes, but neither offense found much rhythm. Crum gave Chuckey-Doak the lead first with a three-pointer, and Kingston Cole scored six points for the Highlanders as they finished the period leading 10-9.
Chuckey-Doak took nearly three minutes to score in the second quarter, but it moved in front 13-12 when Atchison used a steal to set up Palazzo for a layup.
The Black Knights’ biggest first-half lead came at 20-16 when Mason Henderson made a short jumper from the block with 1:07 left.
Jarrett got a breakaway layup with two seconds remaining in the first half to cut Chuckey-Doak’s lead to 22-21.
Crum led Chuckey-Doak in scoring on Tuesday with 18 points, Grindstaff had 12 and Palazzo scored 10.
For Cloudland Jarrett scored 18 points.
GIRLS
Cloudland 57, Chuckey-Doak 40
The Chuckey-Doak girls struggled to get anything going on the offensive end of the floor on Tuesday night and fell to Cloudland 57-40.
“I thought Cloudland handled the adversity a lot better than we did,” Chuckey-Doak coach Kyle Donahue said. “They took the fight to us. They were the aggressor. We got the behind the eight ball and it was tough to climb out of that hole. Credit to Cloudland, they attacked our deficiencies and we could not get stops.”
The Lady Black Knights scored the first four points on Tuesday with Layla Fox starting the night with a transition layup. Tralyn Southerland and Tavyn Southerland each made one at the foul line, but then Cloudland went on a 12-1 run over the final six minutes of the opening period.
Two short jumpers by Abby Clawson got Cloudland going and two mid-range jumpers from Makinna Shell closed the quarter with the Lady Highlanders leading 12-5.
Tralyn Southerland hit from behind the arc early in the second quarter for Chuckey-Doak, but the Lady Black Knights went over six minutes between made field goals which allowed Cloudland to pull away.
Cloudland got triples from Abriella Jones and Eowyn McCoury, and when Reagan Blair got a runner to fall at the buzzer the Lady Landers took a 27-12 lead into the break.
Chuckey-Doak’s offense picked up in the second half and it scored 18 points in the third quarter, but on the defensive end they could not find enough stops to close the gap.
With 4:17 left in the period Kennedy Brown tapped one off the glass to cut Cloudland’s lead to 31-18, but going the other way Savannah McCoury sank a three-pointer. A three-pointer from Shell followed to put the Lady Landers in front 39-21.
In the final 1:21 of the third period Brown knocked down a triple and finished a steal by Saniah Atchison to close the gap to 43-30.
Cloudland started the fourth quarter on a 9-2 run that Blair finished with a driving layup which pushed the lead to 52-32.
Brown scored four more points in the closing stretch, but Chuckey-Doak was not able to catch up and fell 57-40.
Shell and McCoury each scored 12 points for Cloudland while Jones put in 10.
For Chuckey-Doak Brown finished with 12 points and Tralyn Southerland had 10.
