CLEVELAND, Tenn. – State-ranked Cleveland blew most of a 13-point second-half lead, but got clutch field goals from Deontae Davis and KK Curry down the stretch and managed to stay unbeaten in District 5-3A high school basketball action with a hard-fought 59-51 victory over rival Walker Valley on Tuesday night.
Walker Valley’s girls defeated the Lady Blue Raiders 43-39 in overtime.
Davis drained a critical 3-pointer and added two key free throws in the fourth quarter. His 3 came on an assist by Curry and stopped a 2-minute, 31-second scoring drought for the Blue Raiders.
“Coach (Jason McCowan) always tells me I’ve got the green light to shoot,” Davis said. “So I just shoot and have the confidence I’m going to make it. This win means a lot. It was a big district game.”
The Blue Raiders improved to 16-2 overall and 6-0 in the district. Bradley Central (11-6, 5-1) kept pace with Cleveland with a 56-54 victory at McMinn County. Cleveland entertains Bradley Central on Friday.
East Hamilton (14-6, 3-1) was idle Tuesday and next entertains Soddy-Daisy on Friday.
“We’ve been playing good with the lead for the most part this season,” McCowan said. “Tonight we had a lead of 10, 12 or 13 points, but Walker Valley was able to cut it to two at one point. We never got it to the point they were out of the game.”
That’s a disturbing trend for the Mustangs (9-9, 2-4).
“We’ve had three straight games like that, although our East Hamilton game was a little different,” Mustangs coach Bob Williams said. “We were close in all three and lost them late, so we need something positive to happen.”
With a team-high 15 points (he hit three 3s), Davis was one of four Cleveland players in double figures. Dionte Ware scored 14 points with nine coming in the second half. Curry finished with 11 points, well below his average, and Kregg Ware closed with 10.
Kolten Gibson pumped in a game-high 17 points and knocked down five 3-pointers.
In the third quarter when the Mustangs were trying to stay within striking distance, Gibson put up nine of the team’s 12 points. He connected on three successive 3s and started the Mustangs’ fourth-period scoring with another long distance shot.
“We finally had to get up on him and jam him,” Davis said of Gibson. “We didn’t want him to shoot the 3, so we tried to make him drive.”
Said McCowan on Gibson’s dazzling shooting display, “He can score. We worked our guts out on him, so that shows just how good he is. It was a battle of wills tonight and ours finally won out.”
The Blue Raiders (16-2, 6-0), ranked No. 3 in the state by coachT.com, had a 45-32 lead with 1:03 left in the third quarter. The point spread was still 12 at 47-35 when Kregg Ware drove the lane for a layup to open the final period in front of a near-capacity crowd at Walker Valley High School.
The Mustangs sliced their deficit in half at the 5:31 mark by scoring six straight points.
Davis, who specializes in flat-footed 3-point bombs, drained a straight-on 3 after an assist by Curry to push Cleveland’s lead to 50-41 with 4:00 left. That shot looked like a dagger to the Mustangs’ heart at the time and ended the Blue Raiders’ 2 ½ minute scoreless streak.
“That was a huge shot and kind of loosened us up a little bit,” McCowan said.
However, Walker Valley went on an 8-0 run and closed to within 50-48 with just 62 seconds on the clock.
Curry’s layup 12 seconds later stopped the Mustangs’ run and Cleveland outscored the hosts 7-2 over the final 49 seconds to pull out the win. That was Cleveland’s first points since Davis’ 3 at the 4-minute mark.
“We missed shots, including free throws, and some around the rim,” McCowan said. “We’ve got to do a better job at that. They took KK away pretty good, but I thought we played really good defensively too. I'm glad to get a big district win and get our of here."
Walker Valley girls 43, Cleveland 39: Trailing 39-37 after Cleveland’s Bailey Anderson scored on a layup with 1:29 remaining in overtime, Walker Valley’s Lauren Lay made a 3-point shot for a 40-39 lead with 71 seconds left.
The Lady Mustangs’ Abbey Davis converted a three-point play with 21.2 seconds on the clock and that’s how the game ended.
Lay and Kayley Walker each scored 10 points for Walker Valley (9-7, 4-2).
Amber Morman tossed in 12 points for the Lady Raiders (8-10, 2-4).
NOTE: McCowan says the Blue Raiders wore T-shirts with "Think Red" during warmups in honor of principal Autumn O'Bryan's mother, who goes by the name Red and is battling gall bladder cancer. "It's a way for us to support our principal because she supports us," the coach said. "We're probably going to wear the T-shirts for the rest of the year."
LINESCORES
Boys Game
Cleveland 13 17 15 14 – 59
Walker Valley 8 15 12 16 -- 51
Cleveland (59) – Wykle 2, Berry, Bradford 1, KK Curry 11, Wood 3, Dionte Ware 14, Patterson, Deontae 15, Kregg Ware 10, Cobb 3.
Walker Valley (51) – Munck 5, Westfield 3, Kolten Gibson 17, Zakkas, Melton 9, Johnson 8, Eslinger 4, Murphy, Nunnelly 5.
3-Point Goals – Cleveland 6 (Davis 3, K. Ware 2, Wood 1), Walker Valley 6 (Gibson 5, Munck 1).
Girls Game
Cleveland 15 8 8 6 2 – 39
Walker Valley 9 9 13 6 6 – 43
Cleveland (39) – Reed 5, Colbaugh 2, Dasher 6, Franklin, Lee, Stamatiadis 3, Flowers 2, Rue 2, Amber Morman 12, Anderson 7.
Walker Valley (43) – Nipper, Davis 5, Kayley Walker 11, Anderson 2, Lauren Lay 11, Clark 9, Jones 5, Fowler.
3-Point Goals – Cleveland 3 (Dasher 2, Reed 1), Walker Valley 6 (Clark 3, Lay 2, Walker 1).
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)