Nick Rogers excels in clutch for Farragut, 50-41

Nick Rogers always seems to be at his best when something really big is on the line -- like Farragut High School’s basketball season.

The clutch Admirals senior standout popped in 20 points, claimed six rebounds and handed out four assists Tuesday night as Farragut defeated Heritage, 50-41, in a District 4-AAA tournament elimination game at Hardin Valley Academy.

Farragut (11-14), the No. 7 seed, advances to play No. 3 Hardin Valley Thursday night in the quarterfinals.

Admirals coach Chris Cool positioned Rogers, a 6-foot-3 senior guard, in both the backcourt and the post throughout the course of the game. Where ever he lined up, Rogers controlled the flow of the game.

“We kind of utilized Nick in the post in the first half - he has such good hands and he’s such a good passer,” said Cool. “In the second half, we let him penetrate and dish. He’s one of the best players in the area.”

Post Chance Bolen added 12 points while Elijah Thomas and Shawn McKay totaled seven apiece for the Admirals.

Heritage (16-15), the No. 6 seed, saw Brandon Davis and Cameron Allison lead the way with 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Cool said a big key was his team’s defensive work on Heritage’s tandem of Luke Burnett and Calvin Keeble.

“Heritage is a good team,” said Cool.

“Our main objective was to stop Burnett and Keeble, and we used a triangle-and-2 on them.”

Burnett and Keeble combined for just 15 points.

“We thought if we could hold (Heritage) in the 40s, we’d win,” noted Cool.

Playing in front: Farragut jumped to a 6-0 lead and the Admirals never trailed. Heritage closed the gap to 22-21 early in the third quarter, but Farragut responded with a 7-0 run. Bolen scored five consecutive points and Rogers dropped in two free throws to push the margin back to 29-21 with 4:30 to play in the quarter.

Heritage got no closer than six points the rest of the way.

Stat of the game: The Admirals were 9 of 15 from the field in the first half and wound up just over 50 percent (16 for 30) for the game.

Heritage struggled throughout with its shooting, making just 16 of 39 field goals (41 percent).