Staff photo by Jake Daniels/Chattanooga Times Free Press — Dec 9, 2010
Baylor’s Leo Born, No. 33, maneuvers through Bradley County’s defense during Thursday’s game. Bradley Central played Baylor at the Baylor School on Thursday night.If Baylor’s boys’ basketball players learned at least one thing in their early-season high school game Thursday, it’s that they know how to finish off a tight game.
The Red Raiders couldn’t shake off a fiesty Bradley Central team until the late stages, but they finally pulled away for a 72-62 victory at Baylor.
Baylor’s last deficit was 20-17, but it didn’t take its first double-digit lead until Leo Born made a floater along the left baseline that made it 65-54 with 57 seconds to play.
“They’ve got great tradition and they play hard,” Baylor coach Austin Clark said of the Bears. “This is our third game of the year and we beat a quality opponent, so I’m happy.”
Born, who led all scorers with 18 points, made a 3-point basket early in the second quarter that tied the score at 20 and started Baylor (2-1) on an 11-0 run. Bradley coach Kent Smith used two timeouts in that span, trying to get something corrected.
“There was a stretch in the second quarter against their matchup zone where we were very, very impatient,” Smith said. “It was first pass, then jack it. That’s not the way you’re going to beat Baylor.”
Bradley Central (5-2) continued to battle and ended up making 10 3-point goals against that Baylor zone. Two were early in the fourth quarter and got the Bears within 49-47.
“We kind of got out of control a couple of times,” Clark said. “That’s not our game. We’ve got to find the tempo we play best at. It’s not in our best interest to go 100 miles an hour.”
Their advantage trimmed to two, the Red Raiders responded with a basket inside by David Clendenen, followed by a 3-pointer from Reggie Upshaw, and maintained at least a two-possession lead the rest of the way. Seven-of-10 free-throw shooting in the last 37.9 seconds put the game away.
Tylan Martin went scoreless in the first half but finished with 16 points for the Red Raiders. Clendenen added 11 and Gavin Gibson contributed 10.
Bradley’s James Stovall and Bryce Copeland each made three 3-point shots and finished with 16 and 14 points. Hunter Chastain chipped in with 10 points for the Bears, whose rebounding chart had them on the short end of a 36-18 margin.
“The key to the game for us was we had to keep them off the boards,” Smith said. “Their length is a factor.”
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653.