Gary Corsair • Clay County Progress Hayesville's Brady Reynolds, No. 14, slips through Franklin's defense for 2 of the 60 points he scored last week.
By Gary Corsair
Sports Writer
Basketball life will never be the same for Hayesville’s eagle-eye thin man Brady Reynolds.
Reynolds morphed from being a guy that foes needed to watch into a sophomore scoring machine worthy of double teaming by exploding for 40 points in a rout of Nantahala 24 hours after “Bombs Away” Brady dropped 20 in a loss to Franklin.
His teammates had plenty of big moments – especially against Nantahala — as Hayesville improved to 4-8.
Hayesville 89, Nantahala 52
Scorekeeper Beth nearly ran out of room on the Reynolds line of her score-book.
Reynolds came out smoking better than Rib Country, scoring Hayesville’s fourth (a fast break layup), sixth (pull-up jumper), ninth (deep three on a pass from Jackson Sellers) and 12th points (a three on an inbound pass, assist E.J. Abrams).
Reynolds’ pyrotechnics display, which occurred in just 2:21, gave Hayesville a 12-2 lead and prompted a Nantahala timeout in which the game plan devoting to slowing down slick Slade Crouch was quickly altered.
Reynolds received a bit more attention after that and he cooled ever so slightly, but there was no stopping the kid with the golden touch. Think spritzing a roaring fire. Reynolds wrapped on 8-of-11 from the field, 7-of-14 from behind the arch, and 3-of-4 from the free throw line. He also found time to snare three boards, make three steals and deliver three assists.
Needless to say, Nantahala was never in the game. Reynolds and his cohorts made sure of that.
Hayesville scored 16 second-chance points on offensive rebounds and tallied 9 points off turnovers as the hosts went up 23-9 in the first quarter, 48-22 at the half and 68-43 after three.
Crouch was all over the place – as usual. He rolled for 13 points (4-of-6 from the field and 2-of-2 at the line), 11 rebounds, two assists, two steals, and two blocked shots. Nantahala was doubly barbecued.
Landon Trout also played exceptionally. The hardest working man on the hardwood collected eight rebounds and 7 points on 3-of-3 shooting while providing his calling card of tough-as-old-beefy jerky D.
Wait, there’s more.
Sellers battled for eight rebounds, collected two dimes and nailed his last four shots to finish with eight markers.
Cooper Matheson went 4-of-4 from the charity stripe and finished with 9 points and two steals. Riley Rogers gobbled up seven rebounds and canned all three of this field goal attempts.
Michael Colandrea was killer off the bench with three perfectly-timed assists and two rebounds. Branden Lynch contributed 6 points and six rebounds.
Eli Chandler snared four boards. Damien Soto had three boards. Abrams added two assists and two boards. Brady Jones grabbed a rebound.
Hayesville torched Nantahala by nailing 24-of-35 from the field, 11-of-15 from the stripe and 10-of-28 from long distance.
“I was very pleased with the way we moved the ball and played solid defense,” Hayesville Coach Mike Cottrell said. “It was a good answer after a tough game on Thursday.”
Franklin 91, Hayesville 61
The shoe was on the other foot Thursday when the Franklin Panthers showed why they are 13-3 overall and 5-1 in the Smoky Mountain Conference.
Franklin’s devotion to the 3-point shot bordered on ridiculous. The Panthers hoisted an astronomical 32 shots from downtown and the early ones wounded Hayesville mortally.
Franklin nailed 6-of-8 from behind the arch before the first quarter ended with the Panthers sitting pretty with a 31-12. Franklin’s dominance was enhanced by nine Hayesville turnovers in the period.
The long distance dialing headed by hot-handed Jack Jack Teesateskie continued into the second quarter. Teesateskie had five triples and Franklin owned a 46 to 16 lead by the time the second string relieved the starters (who made 10-of-16 long balls) with 3:30 left in the first half.
Hayesville actually shot well — around 50 percent from the field, line and arch – but 25 turnovers and a couple of charging fouls hurt badly. Besides, how do you beat a team that cans 13 3-pointers and 21-of-25 free throws? That’s 60 points without counting baskets.
The Yellow Jackets repeatedly tried to slow the visitors, but baseball bats and blindfolds are not allowed on the court.
Trout was most efficient, bucketing all five of his shots — three from the field, one at the stripe and one behind the line – for 10 points to go with five boards.
Matheson was also hot and bothersome. He honed in on the hoop with 4-of-5 from deep for 12 points.
Reynolds added two steals to his team-high 20 points as he led the Jackets in scoring for the first time this season.
Crouch went for 13 points and five rebounds. Rogers added 4 points (2-of-3 shooting) and had three rebounds. Sellers pulled down four caroms. Chandler had two boards.