Sports Blog

12

Flack and Indians ride past Blue Devils

 Dec 28, 2007

Four Dobyns-Bennett players hit double-figures in victory

BY BRIAN T. SMITH
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
Bristol, Tenn. – Indians senior center Bronson Flack stood tall and proud.
Flack’s 13 points, three rebounds and strong defensive play had just helped push Dobyns-Bennett to a convincing 77-50 victory over Gate City on Friday morning in an Arby’s Classic second round loser’s bracket game at Viking Hall.
And considering that the Indians had been dealt a 24-point defeat by Columbia (Decatur, Ga.) on Wednesday – a loss that knocked Dobyns-Bennett out of the winner’s bracket – Flack was ready to enjoy a nice, relaxing win.
“We were able to come out and play our game how we wanted,” Flack said. “It’s nice to do this in a big tournament where there are so many good teams playing. It builds confidence, and it should help give us a lift as we head into conference play.”
Jamel Williams (game-high 19 points), Justin Sylvester (13 points) and Jordan Edwards (12 points) backed Flack, as four Indians (11-2) hit double-figures.
Tihlee Anderson led Gate City (4-3) with 13 points, five assists and seven steals, while Cody Salyer added 12 points and Jamie Hackney had 11.
The Blue Devils shot well – they hit 43.2 percent (16 of 37) of their field goal attempts and 92.8 percent (13 of 14) of their free throws. Yet D-B took 18 more field goal attempts than Gate City and outrebounded the Blue Devils 26-17.
“They really exposed some our weaknesses out there,” said Gate City coach Scott Vermillion. “A lot of it is possessions. We turned the ball over a lot. And a lot of it is rebounding. We are not rebounding the ball well right now, and that’s my fault for not communicating it.”
Up 14-12 after the first quarter, the Indians held a 34-23 lead at halftime and then outscored the Blue Devils 43-27 in the final two quarters. D-B controlled momentum and the paint, had six more assists than Gate City and forced the Blue Devils into 27 turnovers. And strong outside shooting from Williams and Dustin McConnell – both hit two 3-pointers, with McConnell’s coming during a 12-0 second-quarter run – prevented Gate City from fully focusing on D-B’s inside game.
“I thought how we started out was really good. The intensity was there,” said Indians coach Charlie Morgan. “We made some shots. And I think our penetration by our guards, finding the open person … they switched a lot and pressured us a lot, and we made shots.”
D-B moves on to face Northview at 9 a.m. today.
DOBYNS-BENNETT (77)
Jamel Williams 6-7 5-8 19, Justin Sylvester 5-10 3-5 13, Bronson Flack 6-9 1-1 13, Jordan Edwards 5-8 2-4 12, McConnell 3-7 0-1 8, Hardy 2-5 0-0 4, Riggs 2-5 0-0 4, Halvorsen 2-3 0-0 4, McGue 0-0 0-0 0, King 0-1 0-0 0, Lyttle 0-0 0-0 0, Davis 0-0 0-0 0, Long 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 31-55 11-19 77.
GATE CITY (50)
Tihlee Anderson 4-7 5-6 13, Cody Salyer 4-9 0-0 12, Josh Hackney 4-12 2-2 11, Johnson 2-2 4-4 8, Smith 0-0 2-2 2, Williams 1-2 0-0 2, Potts 1-3 0-0 2, Parks 0-1 0-0 0, Bays 0-1 0-0 0, Jones 0-0 0-0 0, Arwood 0-0 0-0 0, Herron 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-37 13-14 50.
Dobyns-Bennett 14 20 21 22—77
Gate City 12 11 14 13—50
3-point goals—GC 5-12 (Salyer 4, Hackney), D-B 4-7 (Williams 2, McConnell 2). Rebounds—GC 17, D-B 26. Assists—GC 9, D-B 15. Steals—GC 14, D-B 11. Blocks—GC 0, D-B 2. Turnovers—GC 27, D-B 18. Technical Fouls—GC (Hackney).
| (276) 645-2569



Posted by Brian T. Smith
High School Sports Basketball

Sampson III returns, burns bright

 Dec 28, 2007

Future Gopher helps Northview shut down Tennessee High

BY BRIAN T. SMITH
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
Bristol, Tenn. – The 25th annual Arby’s Classic was not kind to Tennessee High.
After dropping their first round game to Archbishop Carroll (Washington, D.C.), the Vikings endured a nine-minute scoreless drought, committed 17 turnovers and scored just six second-half points before falling to Northview (Duluth, Ga.) 42-29 on Friday morning in a second round loser’s bracket game at Viking Hall.
Adding to Tennessee High’s woes, the Vikings shot 19.4 percent (8 of 42) from the field and connected on 18.8 percent (3 of 16) of their 3-point attempts.
Tennessee High coach Roby Witcher kept the Vikings’ locker room door closed for nearly 25 minutes following the loss. But when Witcher emerged, he didn’t paint a dark picture of frustration and defeat. Instead, Witcher saw Tennessee High’s losses as a lesson learned.
“We told them, ‘Hey, we could’ve gone somewhere else and played in a tournament, or not even played in a Christmas tournament and tried to get a few wins,’ ” Witcher said. “But we didn’t do that. We tried to play against good teams. [Dobyns-Bennett] got blown out. [Sullivan] East got blown out. It’s the same scenario. So we talked about let’s take a couple days off here, not think about this tournament, come in on Monday, and get ready for [David] Crockett on Friday night.”
The main factor in the Vikings’ (7-8) loss wasn’t their poor overall shooting or lack of scoring in the second half. It was the return of Titans (9-2) senior center Ralph Sampson III.
Sampson, 6-foot-11 and heading to the University of Minnesota, emerged with 19 points (7-of-9 shooting), eight rebounds, seven blocks and one steal after sitting out of Northview’s first-round loss to Science Hill on Wednesday due to bronchitis.
“Coming off the sickness, I had to adjust to how the game went and how it flowed,” Sampson said. “In the first half, I came out and tested the waters to see how the defense played. In the second half, I played a little more aggressively and was able to attack more.”
What didn’t show up in Sampson’s impressive stats, though, was his ability to completely shut down the Vikings’ game plan of penetrating the paint and then dishing out to open shooters on the perimeter. Sampson was a one-man show in the lane, and he prevented any traffic from moving through freely.
For Tennessee High, Sampson was poison.
“We couldn’t get anything to go in,” said Vikings senior forward Thomas Turnbull, who scored four points and grabbed five rebounds. “And with their big guy, he was just blocking shots everywhere and making it so our guards really couldn’t get good looks at the basket. It was just frustrating.”
Senior forward Dan Stryzinski added eight points (4-of-5 shooting), five rebounds and two steals for the Titans.
Tre Webb scored seven points and grabbed three rebounds and two steals for the Vikings.
The Vikings found early success by exploiting the Titans’ lack of height on the perimeter, and Tennessee High took an early 8-6 lead when Jeff Baker followed up a 3-pointer from teammate Taylor Harmon with one of his own.
The Vikings then jumped ahead 13-10 when Webb knocked down a 3 with 46.4 seconds left in the first quarter.
Yet Northview pulled within 23-21 just before halftime, thanks to a late second-quarter rally that was punctuated by a hard dunk from Stryzinski with 47 seconds remaining in the half.
A slow third quarter then came to life when Sampson converted on a reverse layup, and consecutive Tennessee High turnovers resulted in close, easy baskets for Northview senior guard Najja Nicholson and sophomore forward Robert Sampson.
The Titans closed out the quarter with a 9-0 run and outscored the Vikings 21-6 in the second half.
Tennessee High shot a combined 28.4 percent (27 of 95) from the field in their two recent losses, and hit just 15.4 percent (6 of 39) of their 3-point attempts.
When Witcher was asked after the game if he and his team were still on the same page, he smiled and replied, “Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. They understand this is a good team. They’re frustrated, but they also understand that there were some pretty good players out there. And when you go against them, sometimes you come up on the short end of the stick.”
Northview moves on to face Dobyns-Bennett at 9 a.m. today.
NORTHVIEW (42)
Ralph Sampson III 7-9 5-7 19, Stryzinski 4-5 0-0 8, Nicholson 2-6 2-2 6, Davidson 2-4 0-1 5, Robert Sampson 1-4 0-0 2, Rainford 1-5 0-0 2, Joseph 0-0 0-0 0, Patterson 0-1 0-0 0, Kubandi 0-0 0-0 0, Kim 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-38 7-10 42.
TENNESSEE HIGH (29)
Harmon 3-9 2-4 9, Webb 3-8 0-0 7, Turnbull 0-1 4-4 4, Baker 1-7 0-0 3, Cook 0-0 2-2 2, Canty 0-1 2-2 2, Young 1-12 0-0 2, Gilmore 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 8-42 10-12 29.
Northview 12 9 11 10—42
Tennessee High 15 8 4 2—29
3-point goals—N 1-12 (Davidson), TH 3-16 (Harmon, Webb, Baker). Rebounds—N 24, TH 26. Assists—N 6, TH 3. Steals—N 12, TH 11. Turnovers—N 14, TH 17.
| (276) 645-2569



Posted by Brian T. Smith
High School Sports Basketball

Extra quotes from Northview-Tennessee High

 Dec 28, 2007

Here are the full transcripts from post-game interviews following the Vikings’ 42-29 loss on Friday morning in a second round loser’s-bracket game in the 25th annual Arby’s Classic at Viking Hall.

Vikings senior forward Thomas Turnbull:

“We couldn’t get anything to go in. And with their big guy, he was just blocking shots everywhere and making it so our guards really couldn’t get good looks at the basket. It was just frustrating.”

“We’ve got to look forward to helping build our game up during conference play. Playing against good teams like Archbishop, Northview, we’ve got to use that experience to help us build.”

Vikings coach Roby Witcher:

“They played us hard on the perimeter. And they’ve got the big guys inside, so they don’t have to worry about you driving. We’re working hard on our perimeter game, but with the quickness that they have we just weren’t able to get off a shot without duress. We weren’t able to make any passes without duress. And when you do get back out one-on-one, you come up against a 6-11 guy standing there in the paint.”

“I told them we played two very good teams this week and I felt like we had an opportunity to win both games. This was a different team than Science Hill played the other day, because of Sampson—he made a huge difference.”

“Their guards were able to get up on us. And the same kind of thing happened to us on the first day of the tournament, when we were 3 for 23 on 3-pointers. If we shoot our normal percentage, we’ve got a really good shot of winning that first basketball game, and then we’re playing Science Hill at 5 o’clock.”

“We told them, hey, we could’ve gone somewhere else and played in a tournament, or not even played in a Christmas tournament and tried to get a few wins. But we didn’t do that. We tried to play against good teams. D-B got blown out. East got blown out. It’s the same scenario. So we talked about let’s take a couple days off here, not think about this tournament, come in on Monday, and get ready for [David] Crockett on Friday night.”

“Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. They understand this is a good team. They’re frustrated, but they also understand that there were some pretty good players out there. And when you go against them, sometimes you come up on the short end of the stick.”

Titans coach Steve Bombard:

“You probably heard my halftime speech. And as you can tell, I’m hoarse right now just talking. I was yelling so loud it hurt. We weren’t playing with any pride. I mean, it doesn’t matter if you’re playing in a varsity basketball game or you’re playing at the YMCA, playing one-on-one. If you’re guarding somebody, you have to have pride that he’s not going to score on you. And we were getting beat off the dribble. So we said that anybody who gets beat off the dribble in the second half is coming out of the game.”

“These kids have a lot heart. We got a rude awakening against Science Hill. But we had practice yesterday and got it together.”

Titans senior guard Najja Nicholson:

“We said in the locker room that we had to step up, play defense and play as a team. This team’s all about defense. And when we play defense, that helps our offense score more points.”

Titans senior center Ralph Sampson III:

“Coach said a lot at halftime. But overall, he challenged us as a team and got everybody focused. We bonded and went out with a fire. We played like we were supposed to and we set the tempo of the game.”

“Coming off the sickness, I had to adjust to how the game went and how it flowed. In the first half, I came out and tested the waters to see how the defense played. In the second half, I played a little more aggressively and was able to attack more.”



Posted by Brian T. Smith
High School Sports Basketball

McGruder shines - Archbishop Carroll 67, Tennessee High 49

 Dec 26, 2007

Kansas State University-bound Rodney McGruder scores 25 points to lead the Lions over the Vikings.

BY BRIAN T. SMITH
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
Bristol, Tenn. – The Rodney McGruder Show stopped in at Viking Hall on Wednesday evening.
For McGruder and his Archbishop Carroll (Washington, D.C.) teammates, it was business as normal. High-flying dunks; deep 3-pointers hoisted and sunk with deceptive ease; tenacious defense and a tight, rhythmic precision on offense.
Tennessee High, however, would have preferred to change the channel.
The Lions easily downed the Vikings 67-49 in the first round of the 25th annual Arby’s Classic tournament at Viking Hall, and McGruder controlled the court like an uncontested king.
“Archbishop Carroll is a good team and they have some kids who can really play,” said Tennessee High coach Roby Witcher. “We thought we had a pretty good game plan to keep their main guys out of the lane. But they were able to do some things we didn’t stop tonight.”
McGruder, a 6-foot-4, 195 pound junior forward headed to Kansas State University, scored 25 points on 11-of-22 shooting to lead the Lions (4-2), while Syracuse University-bound senior forward Kristopher Joseph added 21 points (9 of 15), 12 rebounds and five steals.
Archbishop Carroll recorded 13 steals, forced 19 Tennessee High turnovers and held the Vikings to 13-percent shooting (3 of 23) from behind the 3-point line.
Thomas Turnbull scored a team-high 16 points and grabbed seven rebounds for the Vikings (7-7), while Tre’ Webb added 11 points and two rebounds.
Yet the show belonged to McGruder and Joseph. And their biggest impact was not on the scoreboard or in the win column, but on the crowd in the stands.
Viking Hall rang and buzzed with anticipation as Tennessee High went through warm-up drills on its home court. But as soon as the game started and the McGruder-Joseph tandem went to work, the arena sounded more like a church that had just opened its doors after a Sunday session.
“We’re used to our style of play because of the conference we play in,” said Lions coach Clinton Perrow. “Some teams match up with it; some don’t.”
Archbishop Carroll completely shut down the Vikings’ outside shooting, and the Lions spent the majority of their offensive possessions in freeform fast-break mode, with McGruder and Joseph smoothly running the floor like they were in a pick-up game.
Up 17-13 after the first quarter, Archbishop Carroll turned on the jets in the second period. The Lions turned multiple Tennessee High turnovers into instant transition offense, and went up 22-13 when McGruder slammed down a hard dunk from the right side of the rim early in the quarter.
McGruder then set the bar higher, driving home a major slam with his right hand with 3:42 left in the first half.
“I just tried to take advantage of what their defense gave me,” McGruder said.
The Lions move on to face Science Hill at 5 p.m. on Friday evening in the winner’s bracket of the second round.
Tennessee High will take on Northview (Duluth, Ga.) at 9 a.m. on Friday in the loser’s bracket.

ARCHBISHOP CARROLL (67)
Rodney McGruder 11-22 2-5 25, Kristopher Joseph 9-15 3-5 21, Mitrovic 9-15 3-5 7, George 1-1 2-3 4, Price 0-2 3-4 3, Dunkin 1-3 0-0 3, Vincent 0-3 2-2 2, Sumlar 1-1 0-1 2, Thompson 0-0 0-0 0, Pakieser 0-0 0-0 0, Stoutamire 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 26-53 13-22 67.
TENNESSEE HIGH (49)
Thomas Turnbull 6-11 4-5 16, Tre’ Webb 5-11 0-0 11, Harmon 2-7 2-4 6, Baker 2-8 0-0 5, Cook 2-2 0-0 4, Gilmore 1-5 0-0 3, Young 1-6 0-0 2, McClintic 0-0 2-2 2, Morenings 0-3 0-0 0, Walton 0-0 0-0 0, Pierson 0-0 0-0 0, Thompson 0-0 0-0 0, Canty 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-53 8-11 49.
Archbishop Carroll 17 17 18 15—67
Tennessee High 13 8 15 13—49
3-point goals—AC 2-5 (McGruder, Dunkin), TH 3-23 (Webb, Baker, Gilmore). Rebounds—AC 28, TH 32. Assists—AC 11, TH 9. Steals—AC 13, TH 5. Blocks—AC 2, TH 2. Turonvers—AC 14, TH 19. Fouls—AC 9, TH 12. Fouled out—None. Technicals—None.



Posted by Brian T. Smith

SCIENCE HILL 77, NORTHVIEW 35

 Dec 26, 2007

Arby’s Classic—Game 3

The Hilltoppers simply dominated.
Science Hill used an aggressive, nonstop defense that contested passes, ate up loose balls and slashed away at Northview’s (Duluth, Ga.) confidence to build a strong 11-0 lead on Wednesday afternoon in a first-round game in the 25th annual Arby’s Classic tournament at Viking Hall.
The Hilltoppers’ early run never slowed down.
Science Hill held the Titans scoreless for the game’s first 6 minutes, 30 seconds, and took a 40-15 advantage into halftime.
“Our kids came to play,” said Hilltoppers coach Ken Cutlip. “We were solid and we really cut down on their dribble penetration. I also thought we ran the floor well.”
Chris Smith led Science Hill (13-2) with a game-high 17 points and six rebounds, while Spencer Bradley added 11 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals.
“We just kept them in front of us,” said Hilltoppers junior guard Larry Smith, who added nine points and five rebounds. “We knew we had to come out and play hard against a good team.”
Jordan Rainford scored a team-high 10 points and grabbed four rebounds for Northview (8-2).
Science Hill controlled every significant aspect of the game. As their defense dominated the boards and momentum, the Hilltoppers mixed layups with putbacks, 3-pointers and mid-range jumpers, putting on an impressive 32-minute display of precision and focused intensity.
Science Hill shot 51.8 percent (29 of 56) from the field and outrebounded the Titans 43-14.
“We were missing two of our main guys, but there was nothing we could do about that,” said Northview coach Steve Bombard. “We knew they were going to press us, but we didn’t think we’d have so much trouble in the half court.”
Titans senior center Ralph Samson III was out of action due to bronchitis. Bombard said that Sampson is expected to play on Friday.

NORTHVIEW (35)
Jordan Rainford 10, Robe Sampson 6, Davidson 6, Nicholson 5, Kubandi 4, Kim 2, Stryzinski 2, Joseph 0. Totals 15-44 1-5 35.
SCIENCE HILL (77)
Chris Smith 17, Spencer Bradley 11, Smith 9, Adam 8, Grey 8, Hancock 7, Odem 5, Hamilton 4, Moulton 4, Jacobson 4, Duncan 0, Joslin 0. Totals 29-56 14-22 77.
Northview 5 10 9 20—77
Science Hill 19 21 17 11—35
3-point goals—N 4-20, SH 5-13. Total fouls—N 16, SH 12. Assists—N 7, SH 15. Turnovers—N 20, SH 15. Steals—N 8, SH 10. Points in the paint—N 20, SH 44. Bench points—N 21, SH 47.



Posted by Brian T. Smith

Page 2 of 4 pages  <  1 2 3 4 >

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement