T.A. Dugger and Hampton clash on the hardcourt

Published 6:19 pm Wednesday, November 30, 2022

By Ron Marvel

Star Correspondent

There was excitement Tuesday night as a fan-packed John B. Large Gymnasium witnessed an inter-county battle take place between the host T.A. Dugger Junior Cyclones and the Junior Bulldogs. All in all, a full tilt four games were played, and T.A. Dugger walked away with 3-1 advantage on the night.

In the Marque matchup of the evening the Junior Cyclones battled the Bulldogs for four periods, that saw several lead changes. It wasn’t until about 2:00 minutes left in the fourth that the Jr. Cyclones had any type of breathing room. The games started off quick for the Jr. Cyclones as Isiah Adams hit a cutting layup to take an early 4-0 lead but as the case was all night the young Bulldogs would simply not go away tying the game at six all. The Cyclones would end the first period with a bucket by Caleb Waters and a pull-up three-pointer by Braylon Britt to go out to 13-8 lead to end the first period. A seven-point lead was established by Evan Chamber when he drilled a 15-footer, but Hampton would close the lead down to one on a break-away layup; Britt would respond with his own steal and layup to give the Jr. Cyclones a bit of space at the break, 21-18.

The final period saw more see-saw action as the two teams exchanged blows; Hampton would take their first lead of the game, way of a long-range three by Kaden Jones. Just to see the Britt tie things back up with a steal and an assist to a breaking Cameron Nave. A couple of back-back buckets by Britt would push the lead to 6 at the 1:21 mark of the 3rd period, but a bucket and a free throw by Bulldog Colby Clark would end the third with the Junior Cyclones grasping onto a three-point lead at 35-32. The Bulldogs would take the lead down to one point before the Cyclones would finally start to pull away in the final minutes, led by a loose ball, three-pointer by Isaiah Adams and the Jr. Cyclones would take the hard-fought game by a score of 47-38.

Adams finished the game with 13 and Braylon Britt added 11, while Chamber chipped in 9; for the Jr. Bulldogs Colby Clark led all scorers with 16. Post-game Jr. Cyclone Head Coach Billy Etter talked about his team’s effort “we had to play at a high-level tonight and Braylon was our Energizer Bunny, our guard play tonight just set everything else up.”

The Junior Lady Cyclones built an 11-point lead at 16-5 after the first period and never looked back.

Bulldog McKenzie McClain did all she could to keep her team in it, but it simply wasn’t enough, as the Jr. Lady Cyclones used their speed and a well-designed screen game to keep the Jr. Lady Bulldogs off balance. Adrian Heading and Jasy Shell hit three-pointers in the 2 nd period to stake the Jr. Lady Cyclones to a 30-16 halftime advantage. The third period would see the Jr. Lady Bulldogs come out with a lot of energy, but the Jr. Lady Cyclones simply would not allow them to go any type of run, using a swarming defense to keep their opponents out of rhythm. Rylee May would push the lead to 18 on a driving lay-up plus one, in which she would take a punishing hit. Twin sister Rylee May would lead the effort in the third period, in which the Jr. Lady Cyclones outscored Hampton 16-9, by hitting four consecutive shots. Eventually, as the game clocked worked down, the Cyclones depth really wore on the Bulldogs, as the Jr. Lady Cyclones had seven different players score on the night.

The Jr. Lady Cyclones demonstrated great vision in working the ball around until the open player would appear and by using their outlet passes in the transition game. McKenzie McClain led all scorers with 21 and Jr. Lady Cyclones Head Coach Matt Fox acknowledged her efforts “that girl is a player, but we knew that going in she’s a McClain.” Reagan May led the Cyclones with 17 points and shot 64% on the night, Rylee May and Jacy Shell both had ten and Shell led all rebounders with eight. Coach Fox talked about his team’s efforts after the win “we have a big game against Liberty Bell coming up, so we needed the kind of energy tonight, but we have to understand as a team we have to come with that

every night”

After going down 10-2 the Bulldogs went on a 17-0 run and never looked back. Brycen Blevins would hit a three late in the third period to cut the lead to 14, but that was as close as the Cyclones JV squad could get. Kaden Jones and Cameron Nave each had 13 to pace the winning effort, while Gabe Vines added 11. For the Cyclone, Blevins had seven while Ben Campbell added seven in the loss.

A foul-ridden contest, 39 in total, saw the JV girls go out to a 9-3 first period lead and then hold on for the win. Cyclones Aeryyan Fleenor was 5 of 6 from the foul line and scored nine in total to lead all scorers. Sydney Minton added seven. For the Bulldogs, Nickels scored six and Potter chipped in five.