Central coach Rick Rogers knew this would be a long season for his Purple Pounder basketball team after his top seven players graduated last year.
He’s exactly right, but things are headed in the right direction for Rogers as his team improved to 5-10 overall and 3-6 in District 6-AA with a heart-stopping one-point win at Hixson Monday night.
That’s two wins in a row and the second time in four days that his team withstood a last-second shot to win by one point and both have been on the road
“We just kept hanging around and tried to stay poised at the end when it got so crazy,” Rogers said, his voice all but non-existent after such a thrilling finish.
“I feel like we won the game with our defense. We’ve done our job when we hold the other team to 50 points or less, but our goal at the start of the season was five wins. This is our fifth, so everything from this point forward is just icing on the cake.
“We have big McClendon Curtis, but other than him, we aren’t very big or fast, but we play with a lot of heart and that’s what I love about this team. Hixson had beaten us in overtime at our place, so we really needed this win. But we’re on a winning streak and I’m thrilled about that,” Rogers nodded.
Curtis ended up scoring what turned out to be the winning points with 12.4 seconds left in the game. Taking an inbounds pass from Brett Abshire, the big man turned and scored up close and was fouled in the process. He calmly sank the free throw to give his team a 49-47 lead.
Braven Horton then hit the front end of a one-and-one with 5.3 seconds to get Hixson within one. He made the second charity toss, but a lane violation negated that point and gave possession to Central under the Hixson basket.
Curtis then threw a full-court pass out of bounds on the other end, giving Hixson one last shot under its own basket.
There was quite a scramble on the inbounds play. Jahvon Beard got a good look from the baseline for a 10-foot jumper, but it bounced harmlessly off the rim as Curtis snagged the rebound to end the game.
Abshire knocked down a pair of field goals to start the game to give Central a 4-0 lead midway through the opening stanza and the difference was 11-6 when the first quarter ended.
Horton then canned two free throws with 17.8 seconds left in the second quarter to get Hixson within 22-20 at intermission.
The Wildcats got a 3 from Jamvis Ponder to start the second half for Hixson’s first lead at 23-22 and Latrell Sanderfer followed with a layup.
Abshire canned a 3, Terrence Payne sank the second of two free throws and Curtis connected in the lane for a 35-29 Central lead with 1:48 left in the third before Hixson finished the quarter on a 7-0 run for a 36-35 lead with one quarter remaining.
There were seven lead changes in the final stanza, the last one when Curtis converted that three-point play with 12.4 seconds to play.
Hixson coach Lawanza Crutcher had a long and heartfelt talk with his team afterward, but he felt like his team played well enough to win this game.
“There are times when it’s hard to tell who will show up to play and who won’t, but I felt like we played well enough to win this game,” he began his post-game comments.
“We can’t afford to make bad decisions with the basketball in a close game like this and expect to win. We had too many unforced turnovers and we forced to many passes in the lane. That Curtis is a big fellow and he played a solid game. He willed his team to that win.
“I’m pleased with our effort, but not with our overall game. The emotions were high and we really wanted to win. We had three options on that last shot and Jahvon got a good wide-open look. He just missed it,” Crutcher said after his team fell to 5-9 overall and 2-7 in District 6-AA.
Curtis finished with 16 points and came really close to getting a triple double as he also grabbed 13 rebounds and blocked eight shots. Abshire was next as he matched his jersey number with 13 points.
Ponder tallied 18 points to lead Hixson while Horton had 15 and Sanderfer nine.
Central won the rebound battle by an unofficial 28-21 margin with Curtis grabbing 13. Ponder had six and Horton five for the Wildcats.
CENTRAL GIRLS 43, HIXSON 24: Miracle Miller scored eight of her 10 points in the first quarter as the Lady Pounders raced to a 19-5 lead and never looked back.
The difference was 23-14 at the break, but Alivia Smith canned two of her four 3-pointers to start the second half and the score never got any closer. Smith was the leading scorer with 17 points while Ja’nya West was next with a dozen.
Kiera Taylor scored 10 points for Hixson while teammate Kirby Brown followed with six.
GIRLS SUMMARY
CENTRAL 19 4 16 4 -- 43
HIXSON 5 9 7 3 -- 24
CENTRAL (43) – Johnson, Webb 4, Coffman, West 12, Miller 10, Smith 17, Traylor, Ladd, Lemon, Vaulx, Glenn, Whaley, Watts.
HIXSON (23) – Jett 3, Taylor 10, Ervin 1, Wyatt 2, Brown 6, Hunter 2, Henley.
3-POINT GOALS: Central 4 (Smith 4); Hixson 1 (Taylor).
BOYS SUMMARY
CENTRAL 11 11 13 14 -- 49
HIXSON 6 14 16 12 -- 48
CENTRAL (49) – McKibbens 5, Payne 3, Reid 6, Tankersley 2, Abshire 13, Jackson, Isom 2, Spotts, Houston, Curtis 16, Odom 2.
HIXSON (48) – Alemeda, Hatcher, Ponder 18, Horton 15, Beard 2, Stegall, Warthen 2, Sanderfer 9, Lipe 2, White.
3-POINT GOALS: Central 4 (McKibbens, Abshire 3); Hixson 2 (Ponder, Sanderfer).
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)