By Gary Corsair
Sports Writer
The most improved JV team in the Smoky Mountain Conference could get going against Andrews in the second round of the SMC Tournament on Monday night at Andrews High.
It took Hayesville 6 minutes to make its first basket and the Yellow Jackets never did warm up as top-seeded Andrews coasted to a 47-18 triumph.
Hayesville definitely missed sparkplug Kyle Shaheen, who watched from the sidelines with his foot in a protective boot necessitated by an ankle injury two weeks ago.
Andrews pumped in 3 three-pointers on the way to a 12-2 first-quarter lead and never looked back.
Hayesville trailed 20-6 at the half, with all 6 points belonging to Slade Crouch.
Crouch led the Yellow Jackets with 8 points on 4 of 7 shooting.
E.J. Abrams, Brady Jones and Cooper Matheson each scored 3. Jackson Sellers made a free throw.
The lopsided loss was in stark contrast to Hayesville’s rousing 44-34 triumph over Swain last week.
Hayesville 44, Swain 34
The JV boys fell behind 14-8 late in the opening period, but righted the ship to pull even, and then put the game on ice by making 10 free throws in the final seven minutes in an exciting 44-34 statement over Swain.
"I thought we came out with some intensity," Hayesville Coach Will Penland remarked. "We've been working on a little zone defense. Our guys bought into it, they played hard, they were in the right spots. They were intense and it really kind of set the tone early."
The contest was knotted at 29-all with five minutes remaining when Hayesville went on tear with a 13-1 run.
The surge began when Matheson giddy-upped into the lane and slipped an awesome pass to Sellers with 4:08 on the clock.
Swain closed the gap to 31-30 with a free throw, but Crouch rifled home a three-pointer for breathing room at 2:40. Peyton McGaha's defensive rebound on the other end allowed Hayesville to slip into a ball-control, clock-eating, offense.
Swain fouled three times trying to reclaim the rock, the third infraction putting Hayesville in the coveted 1 and 1.
The Yellow Jackets made the most of being in the bonus. Will Brown drained both ends for a 36-30 stranglehold and Crouch added another charity point after he rebounded a Swain miss from the field. Crouch dropped in 2 more freebies after Swain came up with nada on a three-point attempt. Brown returned to the line twice in the final :43 and made a pair to ice the win.
Between them, Crouch and Brown bucketed 10 free tosses in the final period. Crouch was a perfect 6 of 6.
The Black and Gold were impressive from beyond the three-point arch as well, making 6 of 14 long-distance bombs.
"We had to grind. It was still tied at the end of three, but down the stretch we made free throws and we came up with big rebounds, made a couple of big buckets in our offense and that was the difference," Penland said.
Crouch led a balanced scoring attack with 11 points, all coming in the fourth period. He also had a team-high six rebounds.
Brown tallied 9 points and made 6 of 10 shots — field goal, free throws and three-pointers combined to go with four boards.
Riley Rogers tallied 8 points by making 1 of 1 from the field and 2 of 3 from downtown. He also had four rebounds.
Sellers had four rebounds and 6 points, while McGaha cleared five boards to go with 4 points and a team-high three steals. Matheson and Landon Trout contributed 2 points apiece.
Matheson and Rogers made more of impact in the final regular-season game at Andrews last week.
Andrews 41, Hayesville 24
Matheson drained three treys and Rogers added a pair from downtown, but it wasn’t enough to overcome Andrews balanced scoring attack.
Matheson finished with 9 points, while Rogers tallied 8.
Crouch scored 4 and Sellers added a bucket.