Cleveland picks up pace, ends Soddy-Daisy Trojans' season

ATHENS, Tenn. - Cleveland senior guard T.J. Constant sat on the bench in the first quarter with two fouls.

He sparked the Blue Raiders in the second half to a 63-53 win over Soddy-Daisy in the opening round of the District 5-AAA basketball tournament at McMinn County on Thursday.

"We had the mindset at halftime that this could be our last game of the season," Constant said. "We knew that if we lose, we're done. I picked it up in the second half."

He and the rest of the Raiders certainly picked up the pace and played at a tempo more to their liking than what the Trojans would have preferred. Cleveland (17-5) will face Walker Valley on Saturday night at 7:30.

Constant led the Raiders with 17 points while Cantrell Ware added 10 points and K.K. Curry scored nine, including a dunk and an impressive fourth-quarter alley-oop with Constant providing the pass.

Spencer Keylon led Soddy-Daisy with 19 points. Jake Flippo and Tre Carter each scored 10 as the Trojans ended their season with a 13-15 overall record.

"I feel good that my seniors get to keep playing," Curry said. "We kept fighting and kept our composure."

The first quarter played out as Soddy-Daisy coach Reid Daniels preferred - slowly. Cleveland led 10-5 after the first stanza and 17-14 when the teams crowded behind the scorers' table to head to their respective locker rooms.

"We were trying to slow the pace," Daniels said. "Then they marched up the tempo in the second half and hit several big shots."

Cleveland inched ahead 39-30 at the end of the third quarter as Ware banked in a 40-footer from the left side as the buzzer sounded.

"We went into the locker room and our coach was telling us to drive and attack the basket," Curry said. "We did that. That's where most of our points came from."

Points also came at the free-throw line, especially in the fourth quarter when the Raiders hit 14 of 19 attempts to close out the game and advance to Saturday night.

"We had to get stops and we made them take tough shots, and that helped us get up and down a little quicker," Cleveland coach Jason McCowan said. "That's a big adjustment we made."

In the opening girls' game of the tournament, McMinn County beat Soddy Daisy 54-33 behind 23 points from Kaylen Hicks and 10 from Hannah Burns. Summer Ghaffari led the Lady Trojans with 18 points in their final game of the season.

The District 5-AAA tournament is scheduled to continue today with the Ooltewah girls facing Walker Valley and the McMinn County boys facing East Hamilton. The semifinals will be held Saturday with the girls' consolation and championship games Monday and boys' games Tuesday.

Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP

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