Gary Corsair • Clay County Progress Hayesville sharpshooter Brady Reynolds, No. 14, lofts a 3-pointer from the corner against Andrews.
By Gary Corsair
Sports Writer
Frustrating losses to Robbinsville and Andrews scuttled Hayesville’s hopes of scooting to the top of the Smoky Mountain Conference standings, but the Jackets remain determined to prove they are as good as anybody.
Hayesville’s varsity boys will have opportunities to make believers when Robbinsville visits on Thursday after a visit from Murphy on Tuesday and the SMC tourney begins Saturday.
“It was a tough week. The team played very hard all week. We had chances to win in both games we lost,” Hayesville Coach Mike Cottrell remarked after falling to SMC leading Robbinsville as well as second-place Andrews and beating lightweights Summit Charter and Highlands.
“I’m proud of how far they have come,” Cottrell continued. “We are excited about the last week of regular season and the start of the conference tournament here at home.”
Here’s a look at how Hayesville fared last week:
Hayesville 73, Highland 24
Hayesville (11-11) obliterated a Highlands (7-16) team that came within a whisker of beating the Yellow Jackets in December.
Ten Yellow Jackets scored and three were in double-figures Saturday as Hayesville put on a show with 13-of-27 marksmanship from behind the three-point line.
Seven of the treys came from ‘Super’ Cooper Matheson, 3, Brady ‘Radar’ Reynolds, 3, and ‘Splendid Sapling’ Brendan Lynch, 1. They each scored 11 points.
The Terrific Three did much more than tickle twine: Matheson had three rebounds and two steals; Reynolds posted seven boards, five steals and three blocks; Lynch made two steals.
Four other Yellow Jackets were perfect from behind the arch. ‘Bombardier’ Brady Jones busted both of his long-distance tries and Slade ‘Sonic’ Crouch, Landon ‘Tiger’ Trout and ‘Reliable’ Riley Rogers were all 1-for-1.
Eli ‘All Out’ Chandler also had a hot hand. He scored 10 points on 4-of-5 shooting from the field and added three rebounds and two assists.
Every Yellow Jacket made an impact on both ends of the court.
‘Action’ Jackson Sellers dominated with eight rebounds, seven points, three assists, two steals and took a charge. Crouch scored 5 points on 2-of-3 shooting and had three dimes and three caroms. Trout had 5 points on perfect shooting to go with three rebounds and three picks.
Michael ‘MC Hammer’ Colandrea contributed two steals and two assists. Damien ‘Slippery’ Soto, up from the JV, had two caroms and was 2-for-2 from the charity stripe. Rogers scored 5 points on 2-of-4 shooting, dropped three dimes and collected a pair of boards. Lynch and E.J. ‘Tank’ Abrams had two steals apiece.
To think Hayesville narrowly beat Highlands two months ago.
“We played very well against Highlands, who we only beat by two (47-45) in our first meeting earlier this season,” Cottrell said.
Highlands actually led midway through the first quarter of the rematch.
Hayesville trailed 5-4 before turning the tide with full-court pressure. The pivotal moment came when Reynolds and Abrams forced a Highlands guard to travel near the mid-court.
The Yellow Jackets promptly turned the turnover into points when Sellers fed Lynch for a bucket. On the ensuing inbound, Highlands coughed it up again when Reynolds swiped the rock. Lynch then scored again, this time on a put-back.
The jacked-up Jackets finished the first stanza with a 10-2 run as the Hayesville defense thwarted the visitors’ attempts to get into their offense.
The Black-and-Gold ran away and hid during the second quarter, burying the boys from Cashiers with a barrage of three-pointers. Sellers started the onslaught with a triple that produced a 23-10 lead. A long ball by Crouch pushed the spread to 28-10. A home-run by Matheson gave Hayesville a 20-point lead.
The Jackets were even more dominant in the second half. The opening three minutes of the third period saw Trout steal the ball three times, Reynolds took it away twice and Matheson grabbed a board, made a steal and nailed a three-ball. Sellers added a rebound, assist and a steal during those few minutes.
The score was 60-24 early in the fourth quarter by the time Cottrell turned the game over to the substitutes and Chandler, Jones, Lynch, Rogers, Colandrea and Soto ended the game by outscoring Highlands 9-0.
Hayesville 49, Andrews 42
Wildcat speed trumped Hayesville’s perpetual motion offense in a SMC thriller that was much closer than the score indicated.
Hayesville trailed 45-42 with :25 remaining when a Jacket three-point attempt missed and Andrews jackrabbit Kegan Ellis bolted coast to coast for a fast-break layup. Crouch took an inbound and tried to advance but was swarmed and bumped to the floor with just four ticks left to play. Ellis picked up the ball and dropped the dagger, 49-42.
Hayesville (11-11 overall, 4-4 conference) certainly played well enough to win with 7-of-18 field goal shooting and just seven errors. Andrews (16-6 overall, 5-3 conference) was even better. The Wildcats only turned the ball over three times, won the rebounding war 27-23 and made two more three-pointers. Both teams were .500 from the free throw line.
The lead changed hands four times in the first quarter, which ended with Andrews on top 17-14. The Wildcats were in command 29-23 at the halfway mark.
Hayesville seized momentum — and the lead — with a 10-3 run. The Jackets tied the score at 30 when Reynolds hit a pull-up jumper. ‘Radar’ and his boys went ahead 33-30 when Sellers snared a rebound and whipped the ball to Trout, who found Reynolds for a three-pointer.
Andrews reclaimed top billing on a trey after Hayesville was whistled for a foul away from the ball – the sixth time (four on Hayesville, two on Andrews) referees made that call.
The Jackets knotted the score at 38-all on Crouch’s long-distance bomb early in the fourth period, but Andrews went up for good with a free throw and added a corner three to complicate Hayesville’s comeback.
The Jackets pulled within one when Matheson collected a rebound and Crouch fed Reynolds for a trey, but Andrews responded with a three for a 43-41 lead with 1:59 showing.
Sellers hit the front end of a one-and-one to cut the gap to one, but Andrews rebounded the second attempt and played cat-and-mouse for :40 until Hayesville fouled to stop the clock. Unfortunately, Andrews made both free throws and the Jackets were unable to score again.
Reynolds led Hayesville with 15 points and five rebounds. Crouch tallied 12 points, five rebounds and four assists.
Sellers accumulated six rebounds, three points and two assists. Matheson tossed in six points and commandeered three boards. Lynch bucketed both of his shots for four points. Abrams contributed two rebounds.
Hayesville 82, Summit Charter 44
Summit actually led 12-9 after the first quarter on Wednesday, but wilted when Hayesville turned up the defensive intensity.
The Jackets stormed ahead with exclamation marks with a 27-point second quarter in which Reynolds fired in 11 points as Hayesville constructed a 36-21 halftime lead.
The fireworks continued in a lopsided second half in which Lynch and Rogers joined ‘Radar’ Reynolds with double-digit honors. Riley finished with 16 points, Reynolds tallied 14 and Lynch added a dozen.
This runaway victory was a total team effort. Hayesville scored 19 points on offense rebounds and 15 more off Summit’s 24 turnovers. Lynch, Sellers and Chandler had three offensive rebounds apiece.
On the other side of the coin, Hayesville only coughed the ball up seven times.
Jones tallied nine points, Matheson finished with eight, Crouch totaled seven; Chandler and Sellers had four, while Trout and Colandrea posted three.
Robbinsville 47, Hayesville 43
Free throw shooting was the difference Tuesday in Robbinsville. The Black Knights made 11-of-18 and Hayesville just 1-of-9.
The game was definitely winnable. Hayesville trailed 20-14 at the half but hit Robbinsville between the eyes with a 12-1 run during a third quarter that saw Reynolds bust three treys and tally 11 markers. The Yellow Jackets even enjoyed a brief 24-21 advantage.
Robbinsville regained the lead, but Hayesville didn’t fold. Reynolds bombed a triple to trim the Black Knight lead to 44-43 with just under a minute left, but the Jackets had to foul and the hosts made their freebies.
Reynolds ended the night with 25 points on seven long balls. Crouch chipped in 12 points and four offensive rebounds. Matheson scored four, Trout added two points and three offensive boards and Sellers took two charges.