Gary Corsair • Clay County Progress Byron Engelman, No. 15, bombs a 3-pointer for Hayesville in the championship game of the Smoky Mountain Conference JV Basketball Tournament.
By Gary Corsair
Sports Writer
The third time was no charm for Hayesville’s JV basketball team.
Friday’s Smoky Mountain Conference tournament meeting between No. 1 seed Robbinsville and No. 4 Hayesville turned out like the schools’ previous two meetings with Black Knights in a runaway, 48-35 this time.
“It was a tough loss but I’m really excited for the future with these guys. They’re a fun group that tries really hard to do what we say. They came a long way this year,” Hayesville Coach Josh Cottrell remarked.
Robbinsville’s run-and-gun offense struck early and often. Meanwhile, Hayesville struggled to put the ball in the hole, making just 3-of-14 from the field, 10-of-18 from the charity stripe and 7-of-25 3-pointers.
The Yellow Jackets led just once 2-0, when E.J. Mapusua scored on a spin move in the lane a minute into the game but stayed close and trailed just 7-5 after one period.
Robbinsville took advantage of Hayesville’s poor shooting to break the game open in the second quarter and extend the lead to 17-6 by halftime.
The Jackets scoreless from 3-point range in the first half finally made a homerun ball in the third when Damien Soto trimmed the lead to 24-9.
Robbinsville responded with back-to-back fastbreak layups and the Black Knights kept running.
Robbinsville built a 26-point lead before Hayesville warmed in the final 2:00 and halved the lead on 3-pointers by Damien Soto and Byron Engelman and two more treys by Soto in the final :40.
Damien Soto led Hayesville with 19 points and 8 rebounds.
Kabe Shaheen added 7 points, 4 rebounds, 4 steals and 2 assists. Mapusua collected 6 rebounds, took 2 shots and finished with 2 markers. Engleman added 5 points. Donovin Soto contributed 2 points and 3 rebounds. Micah Moss added 3 rebounds and 1 point.