The momentum pendulum that swayed mightily in the final boys’ first-round game in the Best of Preps basketball tournament Monday at Arts & Sciences swung Red Bank’s way last.
The Lions defeated Ooltewah 66-62. Beginning with Derrick Ashley’s follow, they outscored the Owls 17-6 in the final 8:04.
Ashley’s basket ended a 14-0 run by the Owls (9-1) that turned a seven-point deficit into a 56-49 lead. The Lions (7-2) then scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter. They went ahead for good at 60-58 when Gathen Anderson went down the lane for a layup and his only points with 3:33 remaining.
Red Bank gave Ooltewah a chance to hang around by committing three fouls while in the double bonus in the last 42.9 seconds, while missing two front ends of one-and-ones. Up two when the Owls’ Juice Arnold missed the second of two free throws after making the first, the Lions beat Ooltewah’s pressure back and got a clinching layup from Ashley with five seconds to play.
“Basketball is a game of peaks and valleys,” Red Bank coach John Cherne said. “You hope the peaks you maintain are great and you hope that the valleys are real, real shallow. We’re capable of scoring the basketball. The thing is we have to work defensively, like keeping the dribble in front of us.
“We need a practice where we can work on fundamentals and executing things, like blocking out. That, and man-to-man defense.”
Ooltewah scored the game’s first nine points, then got outscored 29-6 before eventually battling back.
“To Red Bank’s credit, they don’t care if they get down 9-0,” Ooltewah coach Jesse Nayadley said. “We do. We sulk about it and whine about it while the other team keeps playing. We’ve got to get over that. We’ve got a lot of pieces to the puzzle. We’ve got to work on mental toughness.”
Kelvin Clay’s 25 points led Red Bank. Ashley finished with 14 and Nick Ross chipped in with 12.
Wesley Richey’s 19 points paced the Owls, and Jervon Johnson had four 3-point goals among his 17 points. Andre Moton had nine of his 10 in the third quarter.
Contact Kelley Smiddie at ksmiddie@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6653.