Gary Corsair • Clay County Progress Hayesville big man Jackson Sellers, No. 33, tries to wrestle the ball away from a pair of Swain Maroon Devils and Yellow Jacket Riley Rogers, No. 11, watches.
By Gary Corsair
Sports Writer
Hayesville’s performance in Friday’s Smoky Mountain Conference boys varsity basketball triumph at Swain County was a command performance.
Two thumbs up, all the way.
“We came away with a really good win on the road early in the year,” Hayesville Coach Mike Cottrell stated.
All nine Yellow Jackets who played contributed mightly in a 56-43 victory that speaks to the probability of a winning season.
“We played much better. We rebounded the ball much better, which we really focused on. We took care of the basketball a little bit more and had more opportunities to score and our defense was solid,” Cottrell remarked.
The Yellow Jackets (2-2 overall, 1-0 conference) burned like a cardboard house afire from the opening tip, which Hayesville’s Jackson Sellers controlled, by the way.
That wasn’t the only thing commanded by Sellers, who sat 10 minutes after being whistled for fouls. Jackson, who stands 6-foot-3, cleared a game-high 12 rebounds, drilled 4-of-5 field goals, handed out three assists and helped contain Swain’s 6-foot-5 Jaden Wade.
Sellers, Brendan Lynch and Landon Trout rose to the challenge — with help — of discouraging Wade, who averaged 20 points a game but was held to 11 by Hayesville.
On the other end of the floor, Hayesville’s Slade Crouch repeatedly invaded Wade’s space and usually won the showdown. Slade totaled a game-high 19 points, pulled down eight rebounds and dished five dimes.
The Yellow Jackets bolted out of the gate on a Crouch 3-pointer :19 into the game and rolled to a 9-2 lead on a pair of treys by Cooper Matheson.
Hayesville then went to work inside. Sellers cashed in on back-to-back shots and then Matheson dialed long distance for the third time to extend the lead to 15-4.
Hayesville giddy-upped to a 20-10 first-quarter lead on 8 points on four shots from Matheson, Seller’s six markers and four rebounds, and Riley Rogers three assists, superb floor play and glue-trap sticking defense.
Rogers continued to give Swain a headache in the second quarter as Hayesville kept pushing the tempo and increased its lead to 32-21 by the intermission. Rogers took center stage with 5 points and four boards in the period.
The Jackets didn’t let up after the break. Hayesville enjoyed double-digit leads for almost the entire second half.
Swain’s last hurrah came on a 3-pointer that cut the lead to 42-35 with 6:51 left to play. Crouch then issued a no-no order with a flurry of offense — 7 points in 1:31. Good night Maroon Devils.
The bedtime story Hayesville read to Swain could be titled “Total Team Effort.”
Sellers and Crouch had the biggest numbers, but their teammates also made significant noise. Matheson tallied 13 points and three rebounds, Rogers grabbed eight rebounds and only missed one shot in posting 7 points, Trout cleared seven caroms and scored 5 points, Lynch had four rebounds and 2 points and Brady Reynolds, E.J. Abrams and Michael Colandrea took care of the ball and scrapped on defense.
Nine was another significant number; that’s how many turnovers Hayesville made.
Hayesville went looking for its third win in a row at Cherokee on Tuesday before squaring off against Towns County on the Yellow Jackets court Saturday.