Ellis boys cruise past Hawkins
Cougars limit rival Hawkins to six points over the second and third quarters
HENDERSONVILLE Ellis Middle School’s boys basketball team had a bad taste in its mouth after its last contest three weeks ago.
Following a holiday layoff, the Cougars took out any lingering frustration on visiting Hawkins, rolling to a 41-17 victory on Monday evening.
The Cougars (9-2) limited the rival Commandos (2-9) to three points in the second quarter, turning a 12-5 lead after the first quarter into a 23-8 cushion by halftime.
“We don’t score many points against everybody, and we scored 41 tonight,” Ellis head coach Lawson Watson said. “That’s kind of where we’ve been hanging at, no matter who we play. We’ve got to keep teams down in the scoring department.”
Ellis lost out on a chance to claim the top seed in the Sumner County Conference Tournament by suffering a 60-38 loss in its last game at Knox Doss on Dec. 14, falling to the No. 2 seed.
However, the Cougars didn’t show any ill effects from that loss.
“We did a good job competing over the (three) weeks (off),” Watson said. “We practiced hard. We had some fun, and I thought, tonight, they showed that.”
Both Logan Spurrier and Jayden Stratton scored 10 points to pace Ellis.
The Cougars ended the half on a 9-0 run after Isaiah Chandler’s 3-pointer provided the only Commando points of the second period.
“I think Jayden Stratton did a good job of progressing tonight,” Watson said. “We need him to score inside, and he did tonight. Now, we need to keep him doing that with some confidence.”
Chandler led Hawkins with nine points.
“(Ellis) is good defensively,” Hawkins head coach Brandon Averitte said. “They get after you, and we knew that coming in. We just knew that we couldn’t make the mistakes that we made.”
The Cougars kept clamping down in the third quarter, pushing their lead to 34-11 entering the final period.
“It came down to fundamentals,” Averitte said. “Pass fakes, shot fakes ... we’ve preached that all year long. We can’t make the mistakes that we make and expect to compete in this league right now.”
The Cougars made four 3-pointers, with Andruw Stratton connecting on two of those.
Ellis swept the regular-season series with Hawkins, having already collected a 48-29 victory at Hawkins on Nov. 12.
Despite the Commando struggles, Averitte expects his team to keep seeking improvement.
“They’re a good group of guys,” Averitte said. “We’re just going to keep battling. That’s all we can do right now.”
Hawkins hosts Station Camp on Thursday and closes the regular season at Knox Doss on Monday. Ellis travels to White House on Thursday and concludes the regular-season schedule against visiting Shafer on Monday.
Hawkins finished the round-robin portion of the Sumner County Conference schedule as the No. 8 seed. When the Sumner County Conference Tournament begins at Portland West on Jan. 14, the Commandos are slated to face Rucker-Stewart in a first-round contest.
Ellis will face the winner of the first-round game between Shafer and Portland East in a quarterfinal game on Jan. 16.
Reach Chris Brooks at cbrooks@tennessean.com or at 615-575-7118. Follow him on Twitter @CB_SumnerSports.
HAWKINS (17) – Isaiah Chandler 9, Jordan Zuger 5, Jalen House 3.
ELLIS (41) – Logan Spurrier 10, Jayden Stratton 10, Andruw Strattion 8, Drew Hohenbrink 6, Tyler Morris 3, Nevin De Graaf 2, Owen Lampton 2.
Half: 23-8, Hawkins. Three-point goals: Hawkins 1 (House 1), Ellis 4 (A. Stratton 2, Morris 1, Spurrier 1). Records: Hawkins 2-9, Ellis 9-2.