| UC boys take down defending champions | | Posted: Monday, January 9, 2012 7:00 pm
| By MIKE HUTCHENS
Messenger Sports Editor
Union City earned the right to celebrate Friday night.
But not for too long.
“I want the kids to enjoy this tonight and tomorrow (Saturday), but then we’ve got to turn the page and get ready for Halls Tuesday,” Golden Tornado head coach Shane Sisco said after UC knocked off reigning Class 1A state champion Lake County 63-60 Friday night.
The loss was the Falcons’ first in six district games this season and their first in league play since their last visit to Union City — Feb. 1, 2011 — when LC then went on to win the single-A title under first year head coach Dawn Barger, who became the first female in Tennessee to lead a boys’ team to such success.
This year, the Tornadoes, Falcons and Humboldt are now all tied atop District 14A with 5-1 league records after Friday’s results that also saw H’boldt beat SF 60-48.
Peyton Mosley scored 18 points and snatched 15 rebounds, while Tre Lewis hit for nine of his 11 markers in a decisive third quarter in which UC outscored the Falcons 23-13 to rally from what once was a nine-point first-half deficit.
In the opener, Union City led LC — a state tourney qualifier last season and the district leader this year — by nine in the first half before making just five field goals over the final two periods in a 54-38 loss.
Amber Fair tallied a game-high 23 points for the Tornado girls, but the Lady Falcons made nine 3-pointers, including four by Brooke Horton in the third quarter to fuel a 32-14 second-half flurry for the visitors.
Union City will play on the road twice this week — at Halls Tuesday and at Bradford on Friday.
UC 63, Lake Co. 60 (B)
Down 31-24 at the intermission, the Tornadoes rallied in the third period behind Lewis, who scored all of his points in succession to get the locals within a single point on three occasions before a Marcus Deberry 3-pointer put the Twisters in front 45-43 with a 1:30 left in the stanza.
Mosley scored from in close twice to begin the flurry, and it was his work on the defensive glass that was as critical as anything else in UC’s comeback.
“They had 15 offensive rebounds in the first half and just two in the third quarter,” Sisco agreed.
The Tornadoes built their lead to as many as eight (57-49) with just under four minutes to go on a Malik Stockdale bucket and another by Jamie Hyde.
They then weathered a final push by Lake County as the Falcons got within a deuce two times — once on a Rafeal Tyler hoop and the other after Derrick Swift scored with 22 seconds to go.
Chris Boucher, who hit 3-of-4 free throws down the stretch, made a charity with 14.7 ticks showing to make it a three-point game before Tyler missed on a long 3-point attempt with five seconds left that would’ve tied the game.
“As much as anything, I thought we played with some confidence that we haven’t been playing with,” Sisco added. “And every single player who played made some sort of contribution. Marcus DeBerry didn’t play a lot, but hit the 3-pointer to put us ahead. Chris Boucher made some big free throws and got a couple of key rebounds down the stretch. And I can’t say enough about Peyton (Mosley). He never came off the floor tonight and was a real warrior inside.”
Devon Jones led Lake County and all scorers with 20 points, while Swift had 18 and Tyler, who was scoreless in the first half, finished with 10.
The Falcons hurt themselves with six missed free throws in the fourth quarter.
Lake Co. 54, UC 38 (G)
Behind 15 first-half points by Fair, the Lady Tornadoes led by as much as 19-10.
A zone defense held LC standouts T.T. Flowers and Carnation Hart mostly in check, though Shamon Pearson had eight points in the second frame to draw her team with 24-22 at the half.
Horton drained three straight treys to open the second half for the Lady Falcons before Fair finally made UC’s first field goal halfway through the third quarter.
Up 40-31 heading into the final eight minutes, Lake County scored eight of the fourth quarter’s first nine points to turn a nine-point lead into a comfortable 48-32 cushion at the 5:30 mark.
“We didn’t take good shots in the second half,” Union City head coach Eddie Suiter said of his team’s dismal offensive output during that time. “I really didn’t think we took very good shots in the first half either, but we got some to go down.
“We did a good job rotating our zone in the first half, but we stopped doing that in the third quarter and they got some open looks and knocked them down. It really just looked like we were afraid to commit to anything and that indecision cost us.”
The Lady Tornadoes fell to 7-8 overall, 4-2 in 14A play.
Sports editor Mike Hutchens can be contacted by e-mail at mhutch@ucmessenger.com.
Published in The Messenger 1.9.12 | | | | |
