CLEVELAND, Tenn. — Josh Moss looked on the bench and saw his team down. He saw his point guard Branden Simpson on the bench in foul trouble and his leading scorer, Joe Fritts, unable to score.
“Branden leads us most of the time, but with him on the bench, I knew I needed to step up,” Moss said. “I had to let the team lead by me and keep us going.”
The McMinn Central senior responded with seven points of his team-high 17 points in a 18-4 spurt to start the third quarter, turning a seven-point deficit into an eight-point lead and pushing the Chargers to the District 5-AA championship with a 61-47 victory over Sweetwater on Wednesday at Cleveland State Community College.
McMinn Central will host old district 5-AA foe Brainerd on Saturday, while Red Bank travels to Sweetwater for the first round of the Region 3-AA tournament. Polk County, who defeated Sequoyah 72-70 in overtime in the consolation game, travels to face Howard while Tyner will entertain the Sequoyah Chiefs.
“It’s a familiar foe for us,” McMinn Central coach Doug Armstrong said.
District 5-AA Championship at Cleveland StateMCMINN CENTRAL 61, SWEETWATER 47Sweetwater 9 15 8 15 — 47McMinn Central 10 7 23 21 — 61Sweetwater (47) — Gavin Davis 10, Corey Billingsley 26, Brewster, Walker, McDermott 5, Badiv 2, Raby 2, Woodby 2.McMinn Central (61) — Dillon Williams 11, Branden Simpson 10, Fritts 3, Moses 9, Rayl 4, Josh Moss 17, Stiles 7.3-point goals: Sweetwater 4 (Davis 2, Billingsley 2); McMinn Central 4 (Moses 3, Williams). Other highlights: Moss 11 r; Simpson, Stiles 9 r (MC). Records: McMinn Central 15-10; Sweetwater 13-15.All-Tournament TeamLogan Brewer, Polk County; Steven Bledsoe, Sequoyah; Justin Greer, Polk County; Scott Moses, McMinn Central; Jethro Griffin, Sequoyah; Jimmesee McDermott, Sweetwater; Joe Fritts, McMinn Central; Corey Billingsley, Sweetwater; Josh Moss, McMinn Central (MVP).
Moss’s scoring output led three players in double figures for McMinn, with Dillon Williams adding 11 and Simpson chipping in 10. The balanced scoring offset a bad shooting night for Fritts, who after scoring 32 on Sequoyah in the semifinals, had only one field goal and finished with three points.
The Chargers won the battle of the boards 45-25, with Moss pulling down 11. Simpson and Ben Stiles added nine apiece.
“That was the turning point of the game,” Sweetwater coach Danny Green said. “I thought we might have won the game if we could win the war on the boards or keep them from second shots.”
The first half went as well as could be expected for Sweetwater who, behind the strength of junior guard Corey Billingsley, led 24-17 at halftime. Billingsley had 26 points to lead all scorers but was held to 11 in the second half as the Chargers went to a box-and-one, shuffling three different defenders out to defend the talented guard when both Simpson and Scott Moses — the primary defenders — both went out with foul trouble.
“It seemed to slow him down some,” Armstrong said. “He missed some shots — early in the game, we stood around on offense and let him get the ball where he wanted, but when we put pressure on their guys, we got the game at our pace.”