Gary Corsair • Clay County Progress Brady Reynolds, No. 14, fires for 3 as Hayesville attempts to come back against Polk County.
By Gary Corsair
Sports Writer
Polk County 91, Hayesville 69
Hayesville’s Slade Crouch posted career-highs with 32 points and 15 rebounds, but his heroics weren’t enough to counteract Polk County’s 15 3-pointers and 16 free throws on the final day of the annual Battle of the States Basketball Tournament.
To no one’s surprise, Crouch was named to the All-Tournament Team after his double-double performance that included four 3-pointers, three assists and three steals. Crouch averaged 23 in the three-day tourney at Towns County High School. Unfortunately, Hayesville lost all three games — two by double digits, one by a single point.
Crouch couldn’t get anything to fall in the first quarter but was practically unstoppable after the intermission. He scored on 6-of-8 field goal attempts in the second half, but the game was long gone by then.
Hayesville began the game with a 4-0 lead, but Polk County went on a 19-2 tear to establish a lead it would never surrender.
The Jackets trailed 19-4 when they snapped out of their doldrums with 7-0 run of their own in just :45 just before the first quarter ended. Landon Trout kick-started the comeback when he grabbed an offensive rebound, gave up the ball and set up down low and then scored on a pass from Crouch. Seconds later, Riley Rogers snared a defensive rebound and push the ball downhill, where Crouch met a missed three in the air and deftly slipped the ball through the nylon. Next, Brady Reynolds bombed a trey.
Then the momentum shifted. Polk County banked in a 3-pointer with :02 left in the first to push the spread to 22-12.
The unlikely 3-point bomb took the wind out of Hayesville’s sails. Polk tacked up 28 more points for a comfortable 50-25 cushion at the intermission.
The Jackets were unable to get back in the game. In fact, Hayesville didn’t get within 20 until Eli Chandler cashed in a missed 3-pointer with :36 remaining. That bucket capped an 8-0 run that included a put-back by Jackson Sellers, a basket on Chandler’s power move and another score by Sellers.
Chandler posted 11 rebounds and 6 points on 4-of-4 free throwing. Sellers tallied 8 points on 3-of-4 shooting and eight rebounds. Reynolds added 15 points with 5-of-10 popping from long distance and two blocked shots. E.J. Abrams had 4 points (2-of-4) and two boards. Trout (1-of-1) and Cooper Matheson had 2 points apiece.
Hayesville, 2-7, hosted Hiwassee Dam on Tuesday. Next up: a visit from Chattanooga Christian on Friday.