HIGH SCHOOL

Bearden saves best defensive effort for Farragut, 59-39

Chris Thomas
USA TODAY Network - Tennessee

Bearden High School's boys basketball team saved its best defensive effort for its biggest rival.

And the visiting Bulldogs' offensive aggression in transition was more than complementary for a 59-39 win over District 4-AAA rival Farragut on Friday.

"We’ve had games when we’ve shown a lot of maturity and then we’ll have that game where we just lull," first-year Bearden coach Jeremy Parrott said. "Coming in tonight, that’s a concern because we won the first game by a good margin, we’re coming into their gym; storied rivalry. You worry as a coach about their focus as a basketball team."

His concerns proved moot.

Bearden (11-7, 6-3 District 4-AAA) continued its pace after toppling Farragut 72-45 in the first meeting on Dec. 9.

Trent Stephney scored a game-high 15 points and Ques Glover added 13 for Bearden. The two sophomores are part of a dynamic backcourt for the Bulldogs, whose rotation includes several underclassmen.

Bearden never trailed, led 30-13 and halftime and by as many as 22 after Shamarcus Brown's put-back made it 46-24 at the end of the third. All the while, the Bulldogs defense gave up their fewest points this season. Farragut (7-9, 3-6) had 14 first-half turnovers.

"Our game plan was to eat some clock on offense and make them play in the half court, and kind of contain Ques and Trent," Farragut coach Chris Cool said. "I thought we did that when we made them play in the half court. We just turned the ball over too many times, that led to transition things which led to us getting in foul trouble."

Foul Trouble: Farragut standout guard Nick Rogers picked up his third foul and went to the bench with 5 minutes, 27 seconds to play in the second quarter. He finished with a team-high 13 points (4-for-13 shooting) before fouling out with 7:15 to play.

"We don’t have much of a bench," Cool said. "If Ethan Sherrill (5 points) or Nick Rodgers or any of those guys get in foul trouble, then we’re in big trouble."

District 4-AAA race: Bearden trails leader Maryville (15-2, 7-1) and Hardin Valley (11-8) in the regular season district race.

West is fourth and William Blount fifth. Farragut is sixth, ahead of Heritage and Lenoir City.

Chris Thomas covers high school sports. Follow him at twitter.com/christhomaskns.

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