CLEVELAND, Tenn. — Cleveland basketball coach Jason McCowan wanted to see how his guys would respond if they were threatened with a close game.
Who better to pose that threat than chief rival Bradley Central?
McCowan’s Blue Raiders won 65-55 to wrap up an undefeated District 5-AAA regular season, but they needed two clutch 3-pointers by B.J. Davis and some late free throws by Ish Sanders to seal the victory.
Sanders finished with 22 points and Davis added 15 — all on 3s. The Cleveland junior has hit 10 3s in two games against the Bears. The Raiders are 21-3 overall with a game tonight against Knoxville West, which gave them one of their losses.
Bradley Central is 15-12 and 7-5 in the district, good enough for third place.
The Raiders led for over 30 minutes of game time, but Bradley trimmed the margin to 46-45 in the fourth quarter by capitalizing on some runouts in transition. Cleveland responded with eight consecutive points, as Jamial King had two steals leading to baskets — a layup by Marcus Davis and a 3 by B.J. Davis.
Bradley’s Parker Pierce had a three-point play to cut the lead to 53-48, but B.J. Davis hit another 3 to seal the win.
“We know we’re going to have to fight through everybody’s best shot,” McCowan said. “It was a one-point game, then we come up with a pair of big steals. It was nice to see them toughen up and grind it out.
“That’s what we have to do when you get another team’s best shot.”
Said Bradley coach Kent Smith: “We wanted to make it a game in the fourth quarter. I think we had them frustrated — we attacked the press — but on so many occasions we didn’t finish.”
Cyle Herron led the Bears with 19 points and Pierce added 15. James Stovall had 10 points but was scoreless in the second half.