Indians survive Bobcat rally
By Staff
Mike Self, Franklin County Times
FLORENCE – Dominique Croom scored 30 points on Friday as Cherokee survived a series of second-half rallies by a relentless Phil Campbell team to earn a 68-64 win in the semifinals of the Class 2A, Area 16 tournament at Mars Hill Bible School.
The Bobcats (13-14) trailed 44-31 late in the third quarter, but senior guard Chase Hutcheson nailed three three-pointers as part of a 15-5 run that trimmed the lead to 49-46.
Cherokee (20-5) pushed the lead back out to eight, but threes by Tanner Maddox and Jay Steward helped Phil Campbell cut the lead to 56-54 with 2:57 remaining.
Croom responded with six points in a 10-0 run by the Indians that made it 66-54 with less than a minute left.
"Every time we would get caught up, we would make two or three mistakes," Bobcat coach Gary Odom said. "And it seemed like they scored off every single one of our mistakes."
Cherokee emptied its bench with the 12-point lead, but the Bobcats refused to go away. Hutcheson hit another three, and Tate Canida followed with a jumper and two free throws to trim the lead to 66-61.
After a turnover by the Indians, Steward drained a three to make it a two-point game with three seconds remaining.
The outburst of ten points in roughly 30 seconds took even Odom by surprise.
"I had all my seniors in the game, and I was just going to let them finish it out," he said. "Then we hit a few shots and did some good things, and all of a sudden it was a two-point game."
Phil Campbell called timeout after Steward's trey, but Cherokee threw an inbounds pass the length of the floor to Greg Ray, who tossed in a layup as time expired.
"They were smart to throw it all the way to the other end," Odom said. "We were hoping they would try to inbound it on our end and maybe we could get a steal and a quick shot."
The Bobcats made 12 threes on the night, including a career-high seven by Hutcheson, but the inside play of Croom and center Josh Kay helped Cherokee advance.
"Their size was just too much for us to handle," Odom said. "Their big guys killed us, especially on the offensive glass. We went through a stretch where we didn't rebound well at all."
Hutcheson made three treys in the first quarter as Phil Campbell built a 17-12 lead, but the Bobcats went scoreless for nearly seven minutes as Cherokee surged in front. The Indians led 29-22 at the half.
Hutcheson finished with 23 points. Steward added 10, and Caleb Thompson had nine. Jonathan Dill had eight, and Maddox added seven.
In other action:
Mars Hill 66 Red Bay 30
The Panthers opened the game with a 13-1 run and never looked back, cruising into Monday's finals.
Mitchell Barnes led Mars Hill with 19 points.
Ethan Davis led Red Bay (10-16) with 12 points. Derrick Miller, Chris Frame and Justin Page each added five.
