By Gary Corsair
Sports Writer
The most improved boys basketball team in western North Carolina played a spirited first half in the opening round of the North Carolina High School Athletic Association 1-A playoffs on Tuesday, Feb. 27 but Eastern Randolph hit high gear after the intermission and ended Hayesville’s season, 83-50.
The Yellow Jackets concluded the season with a 13-15 record that belies how hard the coaches and boys worked to overcome inexperience and lack of height.
“I’m really proud of these guys and the type of young men they are. Their parents have done an outstanding job,” Hayesville Coach Mike Cottrell said after his hard-working team fell to the 17-10 Wildcats after a five-hour bus ride to Ramseur.
Hayesville came out hot and roared to a 19-16 first-quarter lead as Luke Lee and Jacob McClure bucketed three-point shots and each tallied 5 points, Isaac Chandler added 6 points and Jackson Sellers tossed in 2.
The second quarter didn’t go as well. Lee continued to celebrate his return to the starting lineup with 7 points and another trey, but Asher Brown’s basket was Hayesville’s only other points as turnovers bedeviled the Black-and-Gold.
Hayesville coughed the ball up 13 times in the first half as Eastern Randolph established a 42-30 hold by halftime.
Things went from bad to worse in the third quarter as the Wildcats outscored their guests 22-7. Hayesville’s scoring consisted of a Lee 3 and 2 points each from Chandler and Sellers.
Lee’s trey was Hayesville’s fourth and last triple. Eastern Randolph hit 9 shots from behind the arch.
“It was a tough second half. We struggled shooting,” Cottrell lamented.
Lee led Hayesville with 15 points. Chandler came through with 10 points, 6-of-6 shooting from the charity stripe and nine rebounds.
Team-wise, free throwing was a Hayesville strong point. The Jackets aced 12-of-14, 85 percent.
Sellers, the center of the future, had a season-best 10 points. McClure added 6 points, Brown 5, Crouch 2 and Landon Trout 2.
Seniors Brown, Chandler, Landon Hughes, Lee, McClure and Zach Townsend suited up for the last time. They will be missed, as will team manager extraordinaire Shawn Plummer.