A Patriot fortress… Jr. Cyclones can’t overcome play of Liberty Bell in 57-46 defeat
Published 10:47 pm Thursday, December 12, 2019
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Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
TA Dugger’s Mason Ball (35) hits a layup over the outstretched arms of Patriots Daniel Nerren (41) in the second quarter.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
TA Dugger’s Mason Ball (35) splits three Patriots defenders on his way to this layup.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
The Jr. Cyclones Will Churchill (5) goes coast-to-coast with an inbound pass for a layup in the first quarter.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
The Jr. Cyclones Luke Whaley (20) stutter-step fake causes Liberty Bell’s Daniel Nerren (41) to blow by as he drops in a layup to complete a fastbreak.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
The Jr. Cyclones Andrew Barnett (3 ) streaks past Liberty Bell's Oliver Peterson (14) as he finishes a fastbreak with this layup in the second quarter.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
TA Dugger’s Jaiden Wallen (44) hits this off-balance runner despite being fouled by Liberty Bell's Major Osbolt (51) as he finishes a fastbreak in the third quarter.
Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
The Patriots Zane Huff (52) fouls TA Dugger’s Jaiden Wallen (44) as he goes cross court for a layup in the lane early in the first quarter.
BY IVAN SANDERS
STAR SPORTS EDITOR
ivan.sanders@elizabethton.com
Whenever Liberty Bell and T.A. Dugger get together on the basketball floor, it’s always like two cats fighting over a squeaky mouse toy as both teams know they are going against one of the better teams in the conference.
Nothing changed on Wednesday night as the visiting Patriots used a balanced scoring attack spread across all four quarters to take a 57-46 win.
The Jr. Cyclones tried to stay close to the Patriots in the first half as Liberty Bell managed to slip out to a 32-24 lead at the intermission.
Mason Ball was the go-to man in the first half for the Jr. Cyclones scoring eight of his team’s points on the inside. Luke Whaley also did his best to help stem the tide as he knocked down seven in the first 12 minutes of play.
Will Churchill chipped in with six in the opening half with Mac Paulson drilling a trey.
If there was a thorn in the Jr. Cyclones flesh in the first half, it was the play of Liberty Bell’s Smelson who was simply on fire hitting 13 first-half points including three treys.
Joah Shay complemented Smelson’s play with eight points with two three-balls.
Liberty Bell managed to get more separation in the third quarter outscoring TAD 13-9 behind six points from Lawson. Whaley and Churchill totaled three points each in the stanza.
The Patriots did what they needed to do in fending off any late-quarter heroics from the Jr. Cyclones to take the win.
Three Jr. Cyclones finished in double figures as Whaley led TAD with 16 points in the contest. Churchill had a solid, all-around contest scoring 11 points and collecting seven boards.
Ball finished with 10 points and seven rebounds to close out his night.
Paulson finished with six points for the Jr. Cyclones while Jeriah Griffin contributed with two points, four assists, and five steals. Zion Reddick was 1-of-2 from the foul line.
Smelsen finished the night as game-high scorer with 22 points for the Patriots with Lawson knocking down 18 to account for 40 of Liberty Bell’s 57-point output.
Junior Varsity
Liberty Bell…49
TA Dugger….33
After a slow start offensively in the first half by both teams, Liberty Bell kicked it into high gear in the second half to deal the Jr. Cyclone JV a 16-point defeat, 49-33.
Jaiden Wallen led the Jr. Cyclones with 11 points and five rebounds. Colton Killion knocked down six points for TAD while point guard Andrew Barnett added five points and six assists.
Brayden Buckles and Justin Whitehead each knocked down a long-range trey with Nathan Bailey adding a 1-of-2 performance from the charity stripe.
Liberty Bell got 12 points from O’Daniel to pace the Patriots.
