Blowout endings
Published 2:49 pm Saturday, December 31, 2005
The Cold Springs Eagles used a tenacious defense, good passing and spectacular shooting from sophomore Jared Hogeland to take down the West Morgan Rebels 75-43 in the Cold Springs Holiday Tournament championship game on Friday night.
Fairview won the third place trophy after running past a short-handed West Point squad 63-46.
– Cold Springs 75, West Morgan 43: In what coach Tim Burleson described as the team’s best game of the season, the Eagles rolled past a West Morgan squad that defeated West Point by 19 points the night before.
Cold Springs jumped out to a 14-point lead at halftime, but saw the Rebels go on an 8-0 run to start the third quarter and close the gap to six points at 34-28.
That’s when Hogeland got in the zone.
Following a 3-pointer by teammate Matt Williams, Hogeland hit four straight treys to help the Eagles break the game open.
“I wasn’t really thinking about anything when I was shooting,” Hogeland said. “I was just lining up and knocking them down. I just couldn’t believe how open they kept leaving me.”
Burleson couldn’t believe it either, especially when Hogeland knocked down three more treys in the fourth quarter to finish with nine 3-pointers and 28 total points.
“It was unbelievable watching him shoot in the second half,” Burleson said of Hogeland. “What he got in the zone, I knew every shot he put up was going it.”
But Hogeland wasn’t the only star for the Eagles on the night. Williams finished with 19 points and K.C. Dickerson added 13. All three of those starters are just sophomores.
“Our three starting sophomores have kept their composure and poise throughout the season,” Burleson said. “It’s seems like they have even raised their games in the two tournaments we have won this year. I’m not concerned about the pressure affecting them when it’s time for the county and area tournaments.”
Also scoring for the Eagles were Justin May with four, Colton Stricklin with four, Justin Ayers with four and Keith Gann with three.
Micah Randolph led West Morgan with 11 points.
Cold Springs now enters a critical stretch of its schedule, including a pivotal home matchup against West Point on Tuesday. The winner of that game will in the drivers’ seat to earn the top seed in the Cullman County tournament next month.
“Tuesday is a huge game for us,” Burleson admitted. “But beyond Tuesday, our biggest area games are in the next two weeks. We are in a good position to host the area tournament if we can win those.”
– Fairview 63, West Point 46: The Aggies took advantage of the Warriors missing two starters to notch the big win over their county rivals.
Ben Sellers scored 18 points and Kody Butts added 13 in the victory.
“It’s nice to come away with the win,” said Fairview coach Greg Boatright. “After we had a disappointing finish on Thursday, we were able to come back and play a solid game tonight.”
The Warriors were without two starters —Blake Gammon and Blake Overton — who were attending the Peach Bowl with the rest of the school’s football team. In their absence, West Point struggled to score points in the post.
“We got outplayed tonight,” said West Point coach Heith Yearwood. “Fairview made a lot of good plays and their kids got after it the entire game.”
Chase Mosley led the Warriors with 14 points. Also scoring for West Point were Justin Monk with 12, Nick Graham with seven, Blake Mechaw with three, and Stefan Hulsey, Jake Hendon, Aaron Quick, Stuart Miller and McKinley Jones with two a piece.
West Point held a 17-15 after the first quarter, but were outscored by Fairview in the next three periods, including 21-10 in the final frame.
Also scoring for the Aggies were Jeremy Gilbert with nine, Kody Wright with seven, Jesse Johnson with seven, Nathan Weldon with four, Travis Willmore with two, Bryce Bradshaw with two, and Jeremy Calloway with two.
Fairview hosts Corner on Tuesday before getting to take on the Warriors again on Friday.
West Point meanwhile must know try to recover from a two-game losing streak before Tuesday’s matchup against Cold Springs.
“We have no time to practice and correct the mistakes we’ve made the last two nights, so it’s going to be a tough game,” Yearwood said.