Senior guard Ish Sanders has logged many minutes in his Cleveland High School basketball career. He’s been through many tight situations before, so it was no wonder Thursday at Ooltewah that the Blue Raiders wanted the ball in his hands late.
Neither was it surprising Sanders came through with seven points in the final 1:27 as Cleveland clinched the District 5-AAA regular-season championship with a 76-71 victory over the Owls.
The schools play again tonight at Cleveland with the girls’ game at 6 and the boys’ game at 7:30. Each team has two district games remaining and Ooltewah (17-6, 7-3) is still in the hunt for the tournament’s No. 2 seeding.
Thursday’s game was tied at 67 with Cleveland (19-3, 10-0) inbounding on the baseline. The ball went to Sanders in the right corner, and he created a little space with a pump fake before hitting a 3-point shot. After Ooltewah failed to score, Sanders connected from a step inside the free-throw line the next trip down the floor.
“Ish definitely has the green light,” Cleveland coach Jason McCowan said. “He’s probably better shooting the mid-range shot than he is shooting the 3. What we don’t want right there is him pulling up and shooting from the top of the key. But if anybody on our team is going to be taking shots in that situation, it’s Ish.”
Sanders converted both ends of a one-and-one with 15.8 seconds remaining that changed it from a one-possession game to 74-69. Those were the last of his 23 points.
The Blue Raiders led most of the game but never by a comfortable margin. Twice they led by 11 nearing midway of the second quarter, but Ooltewah was back within 37-36 before Cleveland’s Jamial King made a layup shortly before the halftime buzzer.
Despite 2-for-12 free-throw shooting in the first half and numerous misses in close throughout the game, the Owls led 53-52 heading to the fourth quarter. They ended up 8-for-21 from the line.
“The effort was there,” Ooltewah coach Jesse Nayadley said. “We played hard. We got the shots we wanted. Yeah, we had a few turnovers, but we’re not even talking about turnovers if we make our layups.
“There’s no explanation for it. Normally we finish pretty well. You’ve got to make those layups, moreso than even the free throws. I don’t even want to say half. If we make one third of our layups, it’s a different ballgame.”
Forcing 19 turnovers helped Cleveland offset the Owls’ noticeable rebounding edge.
“We felt like they missed some easy shots off their second-chance offense,” McCowan said. “They didn’t shoot free throws well, either. I think we put them on the line way too many times.”
Terrell Parks contributed 14 points for the Blue Raiders, who made 13 of 20 free throws. Marcus Davis had six field goals in the first half and King also finished with 12 points.
Ooltewah was led by Wesley Richey’s 26 points. Mikhail Creech came off the bench and added 13. Jervon Johnson had 10 points at halftime. He and Whitman totaled 12 apiece.