CLEVELAND, Tenn. - Getting off to a slow start in a rivalry game on the road is not normally the formula for success. But Cleveland's Blue Raiders must not have gotten the memo.
Host Bradley Central scored the first eight points and led by as many as 14 in the first half of its District 5-AAA boys' basketball game. But Cleveland took the lead right before halftime and the Bears never led again as Cleveland won 71-61.
The Blue Raiders are now 2-0 in the district, having already beaten another Bradley County rival in Walker Valley.
"We've still got the Hamilton County schools to deal with, with McMinn as well," Cleveland coach Jason McCowan said. "But at least we don't have to see Walker Valley or Bradley Central again until January. Walker Valley was a state-tournament team last year; now a win at Bradley. That's a good start for us. I just hope we can build on this momentum.
"Nobody is going to complain about being 7-0."
The Bears were up 21-7 after Ty Beavers connected on a 3-point shot from right of the key with 6:46 to go in the second quarter. Cleveland went to work then and went to the locker room up 31-30 when Alex Patterson made a 3-pointer from the left wing with three seconds remaining in the half.
"That's just Bradley-Cleveland," Bears coach Chuck Clark said. "Everybody is going to make runs. We knew they were going to make a run. They knew they were going to make a run. That wasn't a surprise."
K.K. Curry made the first two baskets of the second half and had Cleveland's first three before Bradley held him without a field goal the rest of the way. Curry was also 3-of-11 from the free-throw line but still managed to score 23 points.
The Bears tied the game three times in the third quarter - the last at 50. Dionte Ware's three-point play with 11.5 seconds to play in the third quarter gave Cleveland the lead for good.
The Blue Raiders protected their lead by making 14 of 16 free throws in the final 3:21. Ware, who was 7-for-7 from the line, finished with 14 points - all in the second half.
"We weren't making them early," McCowan said of free throws. "K.K. had been making them. He struggled tonight. I thought Dionte Ware stepped up and played well in the second half. He took advantage of the single coverage, with K.K. drawing a lot of attention. He was calm and cool at the free-throw line as well."
Bradley (4-3, 1-1) got off to its good start without scoring help from leading scorer Cole Copeland, who did not have a basket in the first half. His only points before halftime came when he made both ends of a one-and-bonus situation at 4:01 of the second quarter.
Copeland ended up with 21 points, scoring the Bears' first five in the second half on the way to a 13-point third quarter.
Beavers was Bradley's scoring leader early, getting 15 of his 18 points in the first half.
"Cole was being a floor leader," Clark said. "He probably had five or six assists in the first half. We were hitting some shots and he was getting the ball where it needed to be. His leadership comes in different ways. Cole is going to score. Once he made a couple of free throws, I thought that would get him going."
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653. Follow him on Twitter @KelleySmiddie.