Central’s late surge helps sweep ACHS squads
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Anderson County’s Lydia Meldrum puts up a bucket against Oak Ridge last week. - Ricky Williams
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Kylee Alvis jumps for a shot against Central. The Lady Mavs lost 47-36. - Ricky Williams
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JaTrevor Stagnolia twists around two Central defenders to put up a bucket for the Mavs. Mavs lost 70-53. - Ricky Williams
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Eli Varner (back) and JaTrevor Stagnolia (front) jump for a rebound against Oak Ridge. The Mavs lost 71-40. - Ricky Williams
The Anderson County Mavericks fell short at home against Knoxville Central on Tuesday, Jan 19, losing 70-53.
After leading for the first two quarters, the Mavs lost their footing in the third and never recovered.
The Mavs came away with a much higher two-point percentage, sinking 60-percent of their shots, but a higher percentage can’t outpace way more shots overall, and Anderson County shot just 24 times to Central’s 44. Add to that the 17 free throws Anderson County gave the Bobcats, and that’s hard to come back from.
Anderson County had a remarkably hard time keeping the Bobcats out of the paint, with Central scoring 46 points up close, and outdoing the Mavs on both offensive and defensive rebounds. Central also finished the night with 11 steals.
Stone Hatmaker was the lead scorer for the Mavs, with 14 points and three assists, followed by Connor Martin, who finished with 11 points, four rebounds, two assists, and a deflection.
Other heavy hitters for the Mavs included Carter Jett with eight points, five assists, and two steals; Anthony White with five rebounds (the most for the team); and Eli Varner with two assists and two steals.
Mavs Coach Derek Wallace said that he thought the game got off to a good beginning.
“I thought we couldn’t have started any better, similar to the Powell game,” he said. “We’re a really good first-half team. I think we were up seven going into halftime. They responded well in the third quarter and they just upped the intensity level and really hurt us on the offensive glass. We got a little timid, did not respond well, and lost by a fairly comfortable margin. They just physically overpowered us in the fourth quarter.”
Speaking on the 71-40 loss to Oak Ridge the following Friday, Wallace said the team showed improvement.
“We did some really good things against Oak Ridge in the way we needed to if we wanted to beat them, but we just didn’t really make shots.”
The Lady Mavs, meanwhile, had one of their closest games in weeks with a 47-36 loss to the Lady Bobcats.
Jaylynn Bullock led the Lady Mavs with 10 points and three assists, as well as one steal, followed by Lydia Meldrum with nine points and Emily Mustard with six. Myra Mustard finished with five rebounds, the most of anyone on the team, while Kylee Alvis finished with seven assists.