McCallie tops Central in 'Classic' undercard

Big second quarter puts McCallie past Central

McCallie's Shawn McColley shoots ahead of Central's Ryan Montgomery during their Dr. Pepper Classic basketball game at McCallie School on Saturday, Feb. 6, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tenn.
McCallie's Shawn McColley shoots ahead of Central's Ryan Montgomery during their Dr. Pepper Classic basketball game at McCallie School on Saturday, Feb. 6, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tenn.

McCallie basketball coach John Shulman had no problem letting his team play in the undercard game on the second day of the Dr Pepper TEN Classic.

It's not every day that two high school teams ranked in the top 25 nationally play in Chattanooga - No. 25 Hamilton Heights faced No. 2 Oak Hill Academy from Mouth of Wilson, Va., in Saturday's late game - so Shulman planned to enjoy the show after his Blue Tornado defeated Central 74-62 at McCallie.

"You envision what a tournament like this is supposed to look like, and that's exactly what we've had," said Shulman, whose team lost 89-59 to Oak Hill in Friday's featured matchup. "From (broadcaster) Ernie Johnson (speaking at a luncheon Friday) on down to this 3-point contest to the clinic this morning for 150 kids, it's been great.

"We needed to be the undercard tonight."

Henley Edge led McCallie (22-5) with 14 points, while Junior Clay added 13 and Adrian Thomas scored 11.

Terron Hayes led Central (16-4) with 18 points, while McClendon Curtis scored 13 and Ryan Montgomery had 12.

"Us and McCallie are the two best teams in the city, but they beat us twice, so they're No. 1," Montgomery said. "We had too many turnovers and missed too many open shots."

McCallie, which topped Central 69-49 in the championship game of the Times Free Press Best of Preps Tournament earlier this winter, trailed by three after Saturday's first quarter. But the Blue Tornado topped the Purple Pounders 24-8 in the second quarter to take a 42-29 lead into halftime.

"The second quarter killed us," Central coach Rick Rogers said. "We were hanging around."

McCallie maintained at least a five-point lead through the third quarter and led 55-48 heading to the final period.

"We got after it defensively," Clay said. "We can learn to start better, because playing catch-up isn't so much fun."

The Pounders never pulled closer than six points in the fourth quarter as the Blue Tornado kept them at bay by scoring on eight of their last 10 possessions of the game, a stretch in which Thomas scored eight points.

"We didn't guard anybody in the beginning," Shulman said. "Then we held them to eight points in the second quarter, and that was a big enough cushion.

"It was kind of important for us to do something good besides be a good host for the other teams."

Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6484. Follow him on Twitter @UchiyamaCTFP.

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