Chiefs pull away from Sweetwater late

The Chiefs pulled out a win without one of their leading scorers this season. Matthew Jump, who is sitting out a suspension for an altercation following the Loudon game, had made an impact in almost every game this season for Sequoyah, but the Chiefs overcame that loss inside the Chop House to pull out a win.

“We told (the team) that this is rough for Matthew because he’s having to sit it out,” Graves said. “But man, some guys stepped up big. We had some guys come off the bench and play well offensively for us, but we also had guys come off the bench and come up big defensively.”

Initially, the scoring was even, with the Wildcats and the Chiefs trading baskets. A 3-point play by John-Douglas Wiggins put Sequoyah in front early, but Sweetwater continued to hang around.

Meechie Oggs led the first-quarter charge for Sweetwater, scoring 11 of 15 Wildcat points in the period, and he seemed to be an unstoppable force under the basket. The Chiefs countered with balanced scoring, and got baskets from Cade Self, Randy Kile and Wiggins as well as a 3-pointer from Joe Grant.

After the dust settled, Sweetwater emerged from the first quarter with a 15-14 lead.

Meechie Oggs continued his strong showing in the second quarter. After a free throw tied the game for Sequoyah, he immediately sank a layup to put Sweetwater back in front. A Randy Kile layup tied the score again, but Meechie Oggs went right back to work and scored on another layup. His third straight basket for Sweetwater moments later re-tied the score after Wiggins and Grant scored back-to-back for the lead.

“(Meechie) was our man tonight,” Sweetwater coach Brent Burns said. “He put this team on his back tonight. We just have to find ways to keep him in ball games. It’s tough with him to keep him in games without fouling out, so I have to do a better job coaching to make sure he doesn’t foul out every game.

Kolbe Billingsley got involved with a layup and a free throw to put Sweetwater back ahead, but the Chiefs finished the quarter with two baskets from Gavin McKee, two from Randy Kile, and two free throws from Wiggins as Sweetwater went 2-of-5 from the free throw line. The momentum swing gave Sequoyah the lead, 31-28, at halftime.

A layup by Meechie Oggs and a steal-and-score by Billingsley out of the break put Sweetwater back in front, but the lead was momentary.

Sequoyah scored 5 straight points to go back on top. Layups from Matthew Kile and Meechie Oggs retied the score midway through the third quarter before a layup and a trey by McKee and another trey by Greyson Strickland vaulted the Chiefs back into the lead with one quarter to play.

Ethan Holley hit a layup on the run to whittle down the Sequoyah lead in the fourth quarter, but a technical foul against Sweetwater gave the Chiefs two free throws and the ball, and killed all Wildcat momentum.

Shots by Meechie and Dominique Oggs helped Sweetwater claw back into the game, but the technical foul from earlier in the period proved to be costly when Meechie Oggs, the Wildcats’ leading scorer by far, picked up his fifth personal foul and fouled out with over 4:25 to play.

“It’s a tie game and Meechie with four fouls, so we call a zone to try to protect him and for some reason, I don’t know if it was miscommunication or what, we came out in our man-to-man and sure enough, on that play, he gets his fifth foul,” Burns said. “He was pretty much the only one scoring tonight, so after that, we were hurting.”

Meechie Oggs led all scorers with 27 points, while Billingsley added 12 for the Wildcats and Matthew Kile had 7. Wiggins led Sequoyah with 24 and McKee threw in 13. Grant and Randy Kile each had 8 for the Chiefs.

The Wildcats initially shook off the loss and Billingsley put in a 3-pointer to tie the score at 50. Wiggins responded by piecing together a 6-0 run singlehandedly on three made shots and a steal to put Sequoyah back in front.

“I’ll tell you what, (Wiggins) is our fearless leader,” Graves said. “He backs down from no one. Sometimes he gets into trouble, but he plays his tail off. He’s a leader and always putting us in the right position to win, not only as a point guard or a ball handler but just an overall guy who holds his teammates accountable.”

A layup by Self put the Chiefs up by 6, but a 3-pointer by Matthew Kile with 56 seconds remaining cut the Sequoyah lead in half. At that point, however, the Chiefs found the stamina for one last push. Grant and Wiggins made layups and McKee and Grant went 2-of-4 from the free throw line as the Chiefs scored the final 6 points of the game to claim the win.

The two teams will meet again later this season at Sweetwater, but for now, Sweetwater is just concerned about the next one up.

“I’m looking forward to Monday’s practice, really,” Burns said. “I want to focus on getting these guys into practice Monday and figure out how we can get better, because right now they’re not playing to the potential that they have. We’re too athletic and guys are too smart to have these mental mistakes, so I’m not worried about Sequoyah down the road. That game will come, but right now I’m worried about Monday’s practice and the next game.”