Cleveland blitzes Hurricanes by 30 in 5-AAA final

Basketball hoop background
Basketball hoop background

Aside from the opening tip, Cleveland controlled just about every aspect of the District 5-AAA boys' basketball final Tuesday night against East Hamilton. The tournament was played at Soddy-Daisy, but the Blue Raiders looked right at home in their 77-47 win.

"I thought we played lights out once we got into the flow of the game," Cleveland coach Jason McCowan said. "We watched a lot of film of our previous two games against them, and we wanted to keep them out on the perimeter and use our length to our advantage."

Both teams got off to a slow start offensively with Cleveland leading 12-7 at the end of the first quarter. Then the Blue Raiders went on a 14-4 second-quarter run to gain some space.

East Hamilton was able to keep the margin within 10 at halftime, but an impressive offensive barrage coming out of the locker room left little doubt about who would be the champion.

"We started on our heels, and against a team like Cleveland you can't start on your heels," Hurricanes coach Rodney English said. "You have to stand there and trade punches, but we took some big punches early and couldn't come back from it."

Cleveland started the third quarter hot, rattling off a 14-2 run that included 10 straight points, and didn't let up from there. Every East Hamilton basket garnered multiple baskets in response from Cleveland.

The Blue Raiders' blitz gave them a 53-29 lead heading into the final period after outscoring the visitors 22-8 in the third.

"We stayed aggressive the whole time," McCowan said. "When you build a double-digit lead, you can run some sets, but Dionte Ware and Deontae Davis kept pushing the ball and getting us open looks. It was great to see our guys continue running the floor and staying aggressive."

Davis and Ware combined for 23 points and were complemented by big man KK Curry, whose 29 points solidified tournament MVP honors to go with his all-district selection. Curry also eclipsed 600 points for the season.

"He really puts a lot of pressure on the basket scoring and getting offensive rebounds," McCowan said. "When you get in the 600-700-point range for a season, you've won a lot of games and scored a lot of points."

East Hamilton had its best offensive quarter in the fourth, but the effort was met by Cleveland's most productive quarter, too. The Hurricanes netted 18 points in the quarter, including three baskets from beyond the arc, but the Red Raiders poured in 24 points.

"I don't think we have to make adjustments. We just have to do what we do," English said about moving forward in the Region 3 tournament. "We can't start on our heels. We have to be aggressive and put pressure on them from the start. But our kids never gave up, and they kept fighting."

"This is the first one of these, too," he said pointing to the runner-up trophy. "So if after working with these guys for three years that's a measurement, I'm happy."

In the consolation final, Walker Valley stunned Bradley Central with a late comeback to win 64-59.

Contact Idris Garcia at sports@timesfreepress.com.

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