Cocke County Basketball

[caleb1137821]

wow.

 

what a win for cocke county tonight. Joe McGaha hit the shot of his life to beat Cherokee as the buzzard went off. it was a very good team effort. each person made big shot after big shot. blaine hartsell made 2 big threes in the 4th quarter. Terence Carmichael only had 1 assist to Joel Pasternak but it was probably one of the biggest assist all year. he also made 2 steals in the last minute of the game. travis kelley battled through and injury and made 2 big free throws and a huge rebound in the last minute. then cocke county tried to choke by giving up a 4 point lead but Joe McGaha's throat was clear. he made a huge clutch shot as the horn blew.

 

Watch out Jeff. County. Cocke County is rolling.

Edited January 21, 2006 by caleb1137821

[PTSportsWriter]

wow.

 

what a win for cocke county tonight. Joe McGaha hit the shot of his life to beat Cherokee as the buzzard went off. it was a very good team effort. each person made big shot after big shot. blaine hartsell made 2 big threes in the 4th quarter. Terence Carmichael only had 1 assist to Joel Pasternak but it was probably one of the biggest assist all year. he also made 2 steals in the last minute of the game. travis kelley battled through and injury and made 2 big free throws and a huge rebound in the last minute. then cocke county tried to choke by giving up a 4 point lead but Joe McGaha's throat was clear. he made a huge clutch shot as the horn blew.

 

Watch out Jeff. County. Cocke County is rolling.

 

Just an amazing night of basketball. Just amazing.

 

JV and Varsity. 4 games, six points combined decided the four games.

 

Heartbreaker for the girls, heckuva win for the boys.

 

Boys need to hold serve at home and steal one on the road at Jeff - because that game next Friday will be a tough one...

[cchsfan2006]

congrats cocke county. everybody needs luck to win every once in a while. they played good but they were also lucky. THE BANK WAS OPEN.

[cchsfan2006]

PTSportswriter, have you heard anything on the Greeneville jeff county game.

[PTSportsWriter]

PTSportswriter, have you heard anything on the Greeneville jeff county game.

 

No I've not. I'm sure Greeneville clobbered them though.

 

I have heard on West/East though.

 

A crazy game it seemed like. East led by 8 with a minute left and saw West pull to within two. West fouled East to put them at the line with 2-3 seconds left. But Decker didnt pull his boys off the lines so they were still there to rebound. East clanked both free throws and an East player fouled Ewing going for the rebound (why Calvin didnt pull the guys off the lines was amazing to me. Even if East misses both free-throws West's only chance is get the ball and take two dribbles and hit a shot from 75 feet away). Ewing sank both free throws and West won 79-75 in OT.

 

The West win was a good/bad for CCHS. Gives West another game up in the W column on Cocke County, but puts East a game behind CCHS in the loss column.

 

These results tonight would have CCHS in the 4/5 game versus Jeff.

 

The girls game was just as exciting. East led West for a better part of the game; then, East led with 20 seconds left before West took a 3 point lead with under 10 to play. With seven seconds left, East was trying to foul to stop the clock and send West to the line and the oldest official in this association (that one is an easy one to guess; just think it over) calls East for an intentional foul when it was merely a hold of the jersey....West sank the free-throws and won.

[triathlete]

wow! Congrats to cchs on a big win in the imac tonight! I've not talked to anybody but the scoreboard on here has you guys as winning by one i think? Someone let me know how she went? By the way, who won homecoming? lol

[PTSportsWriter]

Buzzer Beaters: CCHS splits with Cherokee at Homecoming

By SETH BUTLER

NPT Sports Writer

 

NEWPORT – It was just one of those nights, almost one of those nights worthy of full moon status.

 

You knew from the outset that two tightly contested games were going to be good. But this good was almost unfathomable.

 

The pair of games that unfolded will become one of those nights they talk about for years in Newport. And those contests saw the Cocke County High School Fighting Cocks and Lady Red on opposite ends of the emotional spectrum at the end of the evening in which Homecoming was celebrated.

 

Cocke County’s Joe McGaha saved the day for the Big Red as the junior guard banked in a shot as time expired to give the Fighting Cocks (6-12, 2-4) a huge Inter Mountain Athletic Conference win over Cherokee (12-7, 3-3) 62-61.

 

Meanwhile, Shawna Ball’s last-second shot did everything but go through the bottom of the hoop before rimming out as the Lady Red (1-16, 0-6) took a devastating loss to the Lady Chiefs (7-12, 2-4) 45-44.

 

Homecoming festivities saw Amanda Lovell crowned as Homecoming Queen.

 

McGaha’s buzzer beater sinks Cherokee

 

Three seconds is not a lot of time, but it was just enough time to change the story of this game.

 

Joe McGaha found himself with the basketball as that precious three seconds continued to dwindle. But it was a couple of steps by McGaha and a pump fake followed by a shot that looked to be off.

 

Call it fate, call it luck, or call it McGaha knowing just what he was doing, but that shot that looked off to begin with was the best looking shot taken all night when the ball reached its destination.

 

The basketball kissed off the glass and banked its way into the basket for the game-winning points as time expired creating memories that neither McGaha nor his teammates will ever forget – as well as setting off a mass-celebration on the floor of the gymnasium.

 

“I thought it was off at first, and I was like oh no,” said McGaha. “All I remember was just driving in and taking the shot and then the next thing I can remember is just everyone rushing on to the court (after the win).”

 

“I thought when I pump faked I thought it (the buzzer) was going to go off, but it didn’t,” said McGaha. “It’s just crazy.”

 

“It was one of those finishes, just an incredible feeling,” said Cocke County head coach Ray Evans. “We didn’t set up a play (for McGaha), I thought they’d be in man-to-man (defense), they come out and surprised us and played a soft-zone with a little box-and-one on Terrence.”

 

“So we had to adjust, Joe just popped back on his own,” said Evans.

 

“I’ve been fussing at them for a long time to be a basketball player. And when they realized they were in a zone and the play was set up for a man (defense) they made the adjustment and they made the play,” said the coach. “That’s just what it’s about.”

 

“When Joe penetrates, he just pump fakes and I was just hoping he’d get the ball off in time or get fouled or something,” continued Evans. “But when he shot it, it looked like it was off and I said the only way that was going in if it was banked in, and luckily it did.”

 

But almost as crazy as the final three seconds was the emotional roller coaster that put Cocke County in the position for the unbelievable ending.

 

After battling evenly for three periods of play with neither team taking more than a four-point lead for most of the contest, Cherokee opened the fourth quarter with a 10-2 run opening their lead to 53-45 with three minutes remaining.

 

Most rational thinking people would think that an eight-point lead with three minutes to play was insurmountable. Fortunately Cocke County was not rationally thinking, nor were they using the average run of the mill guard play either and that saw the Fighting Cocks trim an eight-point deficit to one-point in the matter of 52 seconds.

 

Blaine Hartsell was the bookends of the first rally as the Big Red junior – who in recent games has shown more of a penchant of passing than shooting, connected on a three-point basket that got the benefit of a couple of kind bounces to draw Cocke County to within 53-48.

 

Terrence Carmichael added a free-throw off of a steal and full-court sprint to the basket before Hartsell added another three-pointer to pull the Big Red within 53-52 with 2:03 remaining.

 

“Blaine stepped up and made some good shots, some big shots, two huge three’s there in the fourth quarter,” said Evans. “Then Terrence got a couple of huge steals for us in the late going.”

 

Cocke County continued the rally after Cherokee added three points to their advantage with free throws from Carmichael and Travis Kelley before Carmichael converted his lone assist of the night into his biggest of the 2005-06 campaign.

Carmichael found Joel Pasternak open on the low block as Pasternak sank the easy lay-in for a 57-56 Big Red lead with one minute remaining. And when Cocke County drew an offensive foul on Cherokee’s next trip down the homecoming crowd was buzzing at their loudest level of the evening.

 

Glenn made good on one of two free-throws on the ensuing possession to give the Big Red a two-point lead with 40 seconds remaining. And when Carmichael picked Seth Ewing’s pocket and raced cross court for a lay-up to extend the advantage to four it looked as if the game was all but over.

 

However it was only starting.

 

Cherokee’s Chasten Hale drove through the lane on the opposite end connecting on a basket and drawing a foul. Hale’s free toss was good to pull the Chiefs to 60-59 with nine seconds to play.

 

Cocke County knocked the inbounds pass out of bounds giving the ball to Cherokee just under their basket and Hale again found the scoring column with a wide open lay-up with 6.2 seconds remaining.

 

Off of a timeout, Glenn drove across court and used the second to last Big Red timeout to set up the play of a lifetime. Hartsell looked to inbound to Carmichael, but instead found Glenn who quickly found McGaha who took two dribbles, a pump fake before banking in the game winner as time expired.

 

“Overall our kids hung in there and battled when we got down. They played hard and did everything you could ask them to do,” said Evans.

 

And they did all they could do all night with a battle continuously on their hands. A nip-and-tuck first quarter saw the Big Red hold a 13-11 advantage that increased to 22-14 at the 4:15 mark of the second quarter.

 

However Cherokee closed the quarter on a 15-6 run to take a 29-28 halftime lead. Both teams traded baskets the entire third quarter before Carmichael pulled it to an even 41 with a three-pointer in the waning seconds of the period setting the stage for the classic comeback and buzzer beater.

 

Cherokee was led in scoring by Hale with 17 and Nick Day with 13. Seth Ewing scored eight with Trey Fields and Brian Milan scoring seven each. Darren Haun scored six and Casey Sivert scored one.

 

Cocke County was led by Carmichael and Glenn with 14 points each and Hartsell who scored 11. McGaha scored 10, including eight in the second period, and Kelley scored seven. Joel Pasternak added six points for the Big Red.

 

Lady Red drop heartbreaker

 

All losses are undoubtedly painful. Except this one will be exceptionally painful for the Lady Red of Cocke County.

 

Not only is the loss painful in terms of records and standings – sending the Lady Red to their 16th consecutive loss and virtually ending all chances of the Lady Red escaping the IMAC cellar – but also in terms of the end result and finest effort of the season spoiled by the heartbreaking 45-44 loss to Cherokee.

 

A perfectly designed play with 2.3 seconds remaining in the game found a wide open Shawna Ball at the foul-line for a wide open shot. A shot that looked perfect and was perfect until the bounce of the ball saw the ball rim out – stunning the packed gymnasium at Cocke County High School and devastating the Lady Red squad.

 

Considering the ending to last years meeting between the two teams at the District 2-AAA tournament perhaps it was fitting as former Lady Chief Sara LaRoy missed two potential game-winning free-throws with seconds remaining.

 

But considering the effort put forth by the Lady Red – it wasn’t fitting. The Lady Red battled for four quarters, giving perhaps their finest effort on what has been a disappointing and frustration filled season to this point.

 

And it was a third quarter rally from 11 points down that put the Cocke County team in contention for a victory.

 

Jerrica Lane, Alex Suggs and Ball each got into the act on the offensive end while senior Chelsey Butler and Kelsey Lloyd created havoc on the defensive end.

 

Ball scored six points in the quarter, while Suggs added a pair of points and a key assist on the inside to Ball and Lane added an old-fashioned three-point play to get Cocke County back to within six points.

 

But as key as it was to score, it was even more vital to keep the Lady Chiefs, who were successful on their first five shots in the half, off the scoreboard – and the Lady Red defense did just that.

 

Lloyd, in only her fourth start, is the always hustling freshman battling for rebounds on the defensive end and going man-to-man with her opponents.

 

Meanwhile, Butler had a defensive third quarter for the ages. Butler who has battled illness and fatigue for the better part of the season looked like the Butler of the past two seasons coming out of the intermission as she hawked to the ball and created trouble for the Lady Chiefs offense. Seemingly everywhere the ball was Butler followed resulting in six steals for the senior point guard in the period.

 

Every Lady Red player on the court contributed to the 13-0 run which rallied the team from down 11 to a two-point advantage and eventually a 38-all tie at the end of three periods.

 

The Lady Red went on a 5-0 run, powered by a three-point play from Ball, to open the fourth quarter and held a 43-40 advantage until the 2:57 mark. The Lady Chiefs chipped away at the free-throw line pulling even at 44 when Ashlee Price sank a free toss with 51 seconds remaining.

 

However, two consecutive ill-advised shots on offense for the Lady Red gave Cherokee the basketball with a prime chance of winning the game by taking the last shot. Holding for the last shot under five seconds, Price went through the lane and would have had an easy lay-up until she was fouled by Butler, who appeared to instead tie the basketball up.

 

Price stepped to the line and missed the first, but hit the second shot, giving the Lady Chiefs the one-point edge with three seconds to play.

 

The ensuing inbounds play was tipped out of bounds at side rear-court, giving the Lady Red a better inbounds opportunity. The pass found Jerrica Lane at mid-court and then a wide open Ball for the game-winning opportunity at the foul line.

 

But the final shot was not the only play that beat Cocke County in the game. The Lady Red trailed 13-11 after the first quarter only to see Cherokee pull even late in the second quarter after a resurgent Lane gave the Lady Red a lead on two consecutive three-point baskets.

 

However, just before halftime, Cherokee’s Savannah Ewing drilled a 30-foot desperation heave to give the Lady Chiefs a 26-23 halftime lead.

 

Price led Cherokee with 18 points, and Asia Avery scored 10. Amber Anderson scored six, Kayla Stewart scored five, Ewing added four and Whitney Gilbert scored two.

 

Ball paced Cocke County with 20 points while Lane found double figures for the first time this calendar year with 12. Lloyd added four points while Butler, Suggs, Courtney Lewis and Whitney Crum each scored two.

 

JV Action

 

The excitement of close basketball games wasn’t limited to the varsity level on Friday.

 

The JV girls saw a 12-point cushion evaporate as the Lady Red held on for a 40-37 win. Meanwhile, the JV boys led 29-12 at halftime of their game only to be outscored 21-0 in the third period before falling 42-41.

 

In all, that made for four games on the evening separated by a grand total of six points.

 

Up Next

 

Cocke County returns to the fire of the IMAC for a rare week-night conference meeting.

 

The Lady Red looks to recover when the battle the Lady Patriots at 6:30 p.m., meanwhile the Fighting Cocks battle the Patriots at 8 p.m.

 

The boys match-up is vital as both teams stand 2-4 in conference action. A Jefferson County win would all but relegate Cocke County to the fifth or sixth tournament seed and lock the Patriots solidly into the tournaments fourth seed.

[cosbybball]

Congratulations CCHS -- keep on rolling.

[CoMInBaCKliKEjORdAN45]

Jefferson County was never in the game from the opening tip. Greenville was already a pretty secure favorite in the IMAC, but now that they have the 6'7" Wiggins in the lineup I wouldn't be surprised if they made a lot of noise in the postseason. G'ville is very good defensively, they primarily play a man and force you way out on the perimeter. Jefferson county was only able to score 27 points, most of which were on players way down G'ville's bench. Jeff Co's top two scorer's Solomon & Hill struggled to even get shots off. This after they had combined for 40 points against Morr. East in a Jeff Co. win. As for my prediction on the Jeff Co. v/s Cocke Co. game, i think that the Patriots will bounce back from the tough loss against G'ville & with the Big Red on a high after defeating Cherokee they will get beat by Jeff Co. in dumplin valley as the Pats record thier 1st home win of the year.

[cchs2]

cchs is improving and terry dailey should help as long as terrance and him do play team ball. cchs can get past the first round but i dont think they have much of a chance against greenville. the future is looking better for cchs basketball as the freshmen are looking good as well. nice to see cosby and cchs supporting each other. maybe the basketball football and baseball can all get turned in the right direction these next couple of years

 

 

 

Thats interesting on Terry. He'll add some needed depth and experience. I just hope the return to the Terrence and Terry show isnt up for a debut.

 

Ever since Terry has been gone; Terrence was getting the ball to a lot of other guys.

 

If the other guys can keep it up and Terry can regain focus, CCHS will be a dangerous team come tournament time.

 

When you look at the District Tourney, that Saturday on the boys side will be a crap shoot. Greeneville and West will likely get byes (which is good, want to stay away from GHS on their floor) which puts Jeff, CCHS, Cherokee, and East all on Saturday.

 

Seeding will matter little there except for who plays who as all four of those teams are pretty even, especially on a neutral floor.

 

Right now, CCHS (6) would play Cherokee (3) and Jeff would play East in a 4-5 game. PrepXtra has Cherokee as the 2 seed, but West beat them and has the tiebreaker.

 

West would get the winner of CCHS/Cherokee and Greeneville gets the Jeff/East winner.

 

I agree with Caleb, the way the bracket would lay out if CCHS was a 6 seed would be a more favorable road for CCHS.

[PTSportsWriter]

CCHS has a nice halftime lead, something like 36-18 or along those lines.

 

Girls fell by 11. Another tough one.

[jmpshtr101]

CCHS has a nice halftime lead, something like 36-18 or along those lines.

 

Girls fell by 11. Another tough one.

anyone have the final in this one yet?