ATHENS, Tenn. — Cleveland boys’ basketball coach Jason McCowan writes two words on the board before every game: “Have fun.”
Thursday night, it looked like his team did just that in beating Ooltewah 83-59 for the Region 3-AAA championship at McMinn County High School.
The Blue Raiders (26-4) outscored the Owls 32-13 in the second quarter — making eight 3-pointers in the period.
Winning its first region championship since 2005, Cleveland was 10-for-14 from 3-point range in the first half and made 13 3s in the game. The Raiders will host Columbia Central (19-10) in a sectional game Monday night at 7, while Ooltewah will visit Murfreesboro Siegel (23-8) for an 8 p.m. EST start time.
“I think a big factor for us was our depth,” McCowan said. “We both played last night on the road, and I felt like our depth really hurt Ooltewah and played to our advantage.”
Ish Sanders hit six consecutive 3s in the second quarter and finished with 27 points — 20 in the first half — for Cleveland. Marcus Davis worked the inside for 20 points, while Terrell Parks had four 3s and 16 points.
“I don’t know what happened there,” Sanders said of the second quarter. “They gave me some open shots and I wanted to take advantage. My teammates did a good job of finding me.”
The game started like the first three contests between the two schools — close. Ooltewah (22-10) led 10-7 after a jump shot by Decorius Hixon, but Wesley Constant capped a 9-0 Cleveland run with a 3 and the Raiders led 17-15 after one quarter.
Sanders hit three 3s in the first two minutes of the second quarter. His fourth gave Cleveland a 34-18 lead, then after an Ooltewah run cut the lead to nine, he hit his fifth to stretch the lead to 39-27.
B.J. Davis hit a 3 for Cleveland, and then Sanders made his sixth at the halftime buzzer for a 49-28 margin.
“I tried to explain to the guys at halftime that we couldn’t get our 3s off because they were guarding us, but they can,” Ooltewah coach Jesse Nayadley said. “We’re the same type of athlete.
“Sanders’ 3s obviously got them going, but his first 3 we didn’t have a hand up. They got to rolling and we couldn’t fight back.”
Cleveland continued to pour it on, leading by as much as 26 in the third quarter. The lead hit 30 in the fourth quarter before McCowan emptied his bench.
“It just gets tougher from here out,” he said. “There are only 16 teams left, and they’re all good and all well-coached. I’m glad we get to play at home; this is what we’ve been looking forward to.
“Let’s go meet some good teams and see what we’re made of.”
Jervon Johnson and Josh Lloyd finished with 13 points apiece to lead the Owls. Tyler Whitman added 11.
“Obviously we’re better than that,” Nayadley said. “We’re one of the final 16 teams in the state, so we’ve done some things right. The guys might have embarrassed themselves tonight, but hopefully that’ll help us out somehow, because we don’t need to end on that note.
“It was pretty sour.”