The roller coaster
Mavs can’t catch a break
The season-long rollercoaster ride continued Friday night for the Anderson County High School boys basketball team as the Mavericks lost their third-consecutive game.
ACHS (11-11 overall, 2-4 in District 4-AAA) dropped a 59-51 decision at home to Knoxville Halls in its regular-season league finale.
The final score may have been close, but the Mavs struggled throughout much of the contest and fell behind the Red Devils (12-10, 4-1) by as many as 25 points.
“We just didn’t play real well for three quarters, but we did enough in the fourth quarter to make it appear a little more respectable,” said first-year Head Coach Jordan Jeffers. “This isn’t for the faint of heart. That’s for sure.
“We’re playing really good teams and we’re struggling right now and this is the time of year where you want to be playing your best basketball, coming toward tournament time.”
With Friday’s win, Halls avenged an early-season 69-64 home loss to the Mavericks.
Hayden Craig led ACHS with 17 points and Jacob Dooley finished with 14.
“We had a couple of guys in double figures and Jacob Dooley had a good game for us and that was good to see because he can be a real game changer, a difference maker for us.”
The 2022-23 campaign has undoubtedly been streaky for ACHS. The Mavericks opened the season by losing seven of their first 12 games. They then reeled off seven in a row and now, ACHS has dropped three straight.
“We’re struggling right now and it’s been hard on us,” Jeffers said. “Change is always hard and I think we’ve hit a bit of a late-season lull.”
Anderson County has two non-league games this week. The Mavericks played Gibbs Tuesday (results were not available at press time). They travel to Loudon County to face Lenoir City Friday night.
Tipoff is slated for 7:30 p.m.