Saturday was get-right day for four of the eight high school basketball teams that had opened the annual Times Free Press Best of Preps tournament with disappointing performances one day prior at Chattanooga State.
Not only did the Signal Mountain boys bounce back from their first-round loss on the same court, the Eagles also showed plenty of determination in recovering from a fourth-quarter collapse that had opened the door for Chattanooga Christian School to rally and force overtime.
Once in the extra period, Signal Mountain, which was handed a 33-point loss by Boyd Buchanan on Friday, regained form and pulled away for a 75-66 win against the Chargers.
Now the Eagles (8-7) will face Notre Dame (2-12), which held off Ooltewah in another losers-bracket pairing, in Monday’s fifth-place game at 2:30 p.m.
In the girls’ bracket, after each suffered a two-point loss on Friday, both East Hamilton and Soddy Daisy rebounded to take narrow wins Saturday. Those two will meet Monday in the fifth-place game at 1 p.m.
“Boyd Buchanan was just more physical than us and took the game to us,” Signal Mountain boys’ coach Steve Redman said of the opening loss to the Buccaneers. “We talked about toughness and being hard-nosed on the court. I thought we did a better job of that today.
“That’s the great thing about basketball, is you get to come right back the next day and try to be better and bounce back. You either do it or you don’t, but we showed something today with the way we battled.”
The Chargers (5-6) rallied from a seven-point deficit in the final minute of regulation to tie. The Eagles had a chance to put the game away when J.B. Zimmerman was fouled with 0.3 second remaining, but the usually dependable senior missed both free throws, sending the game into overtime.
“We had to make it interesting there at the end,” Redman said with a laugh. “J.B. is the guy we want at the line in that situation. He’s an 80% free-throw shooter and our leading scorer. He’s our go-to guy. I would’ve bet my house on him making one of those two at the end.”
Zimmerman, who led his team with 23 points (shooting 7-of-11 from the foul line) made Signal Mountain’s only field goal in overtime, but the Eagles connected on 15 of 16 free throws in the period.
Zach Isaac finished with 15 points for the Eagles, making three 3-pointers and going 6-for-6 at the line in overtime, while Dane McMillan (also 6-for-6 on free throws in overtime) and Max Rackel each added 12 points.
Jack Fox led all scorers with 44 points, including 18 in the fourth to spark the late rally by CCS. He connected on four 3-pointers but was held scoreless in the extra frame before fouling out.
“For us to take that gut punch, knowing we shouldn’t have been in overtime, and then not give in to that disappointment and instead battle back and take the game was good to see,” Redman said.
Notre Dame boys 53, Ooltewah 47: Down by one after the first quarter, the Fighting Irish narrowly outscored the Owls each of the next three quarters for the win.
Notre Dame was led by senior Dylan Hall’s 18 points — he was 10-of-12 on free throws — while Dedric Smith and Charlie Simmons chipped in 11 and 10, respectively.
Zyon Wiley scored 18 points for Ooltewah (3-11), making three 3-pointers in first quarter and three more in the third, and Elijah Wiley added 12.
The Owls will face CCS in the seventh-place game at 11:30 a.m. Monday.
East Hamilton girls 50, Red Bank 49: In a back-and-forth battle, the Lady Hurricanes finished strong down the stretch to advance.
For the second straight game, Alexis Price finished with 16 points and two 3-pointers to lead East Hamilton (4-7). Meanwhile, teammate Kailey Hilvers scored nine of her 13 points in the second half, and Kirby Eller added 10, including a pair of 3s.
Red Bank’s Journey Holloway was 10-of-14 from the foul line and led all scorers with 25 points, and Malika Odom scored eight of her 11 in the first half for the Lady Lions (7-5).
Soddy Daisy 41, Signal Mountain 37: Gabby Spencer scored 11 of her game-high 22 points in the third quarter to lead the Lady Trojans. Spencer, who scored 16 of her total in the second half, accounted for all but one of Soddy Daisy’s points in what proved to be the game-deciding scoring run.
Jillian Parker finished with 11 for the Lady Trojans (7-6), while Signal Mountain (5-7) was led by Becca Rogers’ 12.
Signal Mountain and Red Bank will meet at 10 a.m. Monday to determine seventh place in the eight-team field.
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com.