The Anderson County Mavericks basketball programs faced two District-3AAA opponents, as last week amounted to be a challenging one.
The Mavs and Lady Mavs hosted Knoxville Central High School on Tuesday, followed by Powell High School on Friday. The Anderson County Mavericks (13-8, 6-3) dropped a 62-50 result to the district-leading Bobcats, but were able to respond on Friday with a big 62-61 double-overtime win over the Panthers.
“They drive me insane — but they’re tough,” said Anderson County Head Coach Derek Wallace. “When we really want to do something, we are a pretty determined bunch,” said Wallace about his team.
The Mavs are now third in the District-3AAA standings heading into this week. The Anderson County Lady Mavericks (11-9, 3-6) dropped both contests last week.
After starting the season 6-0, the Lady Mavs are 5-9 since, and head into this week looking to find consistency — and the win column. “We are working very hard to get past these games. We are going to work hard every day in practice, because we don’t want our season to end any time soon,” said senior guard Maci Houser.
On Tuesday, against Central, both Anderson County teams would struggle in the second half. The Lady Mavs played a solid first half on both ends of the floor. Offensively, Senior post Brooklin McCoy hit two first quarter triples to get going, and finished the first half with nine points.
However, through tenacious, disciplined defending — the Lady Mavs would head into halftime up one point, 23-22. Unfortunately for Anderson County, halftime would be the story. The second half Lady Mavs struggled defensively, and lost the game’s momentum. The Lady Bobcats began to pound the ball inside, and the Lady Mavs struggled to counter Central’s blows.
The Lady Bobcats put up 17 third quarter points, almost doubling the Lady Mavs’ nine points. Central’s 39-32 lead heading into the fourth quarter began to increase quickly. The Lady Bobcats would visit the charity stripe 16 times in the fourth quarter. The Lady Bobcats hit 19-of-30 from the line, for the game. Anderson County hit 11-of-20 free throws attempted in the contest.
The Lady Bobcats used 37 second half points to defeat the Lady Mavs, 59-47. McCoy would lead all scorers, with a game-high 19 points.
In the boys’ matchup, both teams would start the game fast, and shooting the ball well. Central’s Summers would put of 15 of the Bobcats’ 19 first quarter points, and the district leaders led 19-15, heading into the second quarter. However, Central’s hot shooting would cool off in the second quarter. Five Anderson County seniors would contribute second quarter points, and the Mavs would retake the lead before the break.
At halftime, Anderson County led Central 28-23. Much like the girls’ game, halftime would be a momentum killer for Anderson County. Central’s second half offense would be too high-powered for Anderson County.
The Bobcats put up 20 third quarter points, regained the lead, and took a 43-40 advantage into the fourth quarter. Central would continue to build on their lead, and defeated Anderson County 62-50.
The Bobcats shot 50-percent from the floor in the ballgame, and outscored the Mavs 38-18 in the paint. Summers would lead all scorers with 22 points. Senior Stanton Martin would lead the Mavs’ scoring, as he finished with 19 points.
On Friday, against Powell, the Lady Mavs fell behind in the first quarter, and were unable to put together a run to catch the Lady Panthers. Powell’s play on both sides of the floor was consistent all night.
However, it would be the Lady Panthers’ deep-ball that would bury Anderson County. The Lady Panthers hit 13 from beyond the arc—a Lady Panthers single-game record. The Lady Panthers cruised to a 67-40 win over Anderson County. Powell’s Bailey Trumm hit eight three’s, and finished with a game-high 29 points.
For the Lady Mavs, Juliann Smith led the team in scoring with 12 points—all triples. Shae Berry would follow with 10 points. Up next for the Lady Mavs, a visit to Scott on Tuesday before hosting Oak Ridge this Friday.
Sitting in sixth place in District-3AAA, and with only nine regular season contests left, this week would be a great time for a Lady Mavs win-streak.
In the boys’ matchup, Anderson County and Powell would go toe-to-toe, in a truly great high school basketball game. Senior Harrison Ogburn would put up all five of his points in the first quarter, and the game was tied 13-13 headed into the second quarter.
The second quarter featured an unexpected face, as Freshman Anthony White would get some quality minutes, in a big District-3AAA matchup. Not only did White play, he would score four points in the second quarter—White’s efforts helped Anderson County to a 26-21 halftime lead.
In a ballgame that would also feature nine different lead changes, Anderson County protected their lead throughout the entirety of the third quarter, and led 37-32 heading into the fourth quarter. The Panthers chipped away at the Mavs’ lead, drawing closer and closer. With under one minute of the ballgame remaining, a Powell jumper in the lane would hit nylon — knotting up the game at 47-47. Seconds later, on the inbounds play, Powell would come up with a quick steal and a lay-in—taking a 49-47 lead.
With 14 seconds left, Anderson County would advance into the frontcourt and spread the floor.
Just across midcourt, on the left side of the arc, Martin would dump the rock to Tanner Davis on the high post. Facing away from his basket, Davis would take a couple of dribbles to his right — sending Grant Hayes from the near corner around the arc over Davis. Davis would hand the ball to Hayes, who would gain a mismatch as the defenders switched.
Hayes blew by his defender at the free throw line, turned the corner, and two-stepped down the right side of the lane for an uncontested layup.
Hayes would tie the game, and after Powell’s desperation attempt failed, the game headed into overtime tied 49-49 at the end of regulation.
For Anderson County, through both overtimes, the game could have been won at the free-throw line. However, a couple of key missed kept Powell within striking distance. Also, the Mavs were lucky that the Panthers went 2-for-9 from the floor in the first overtime.
With the ballgame tied at 54-54, the Panthers had possession and another attempt at a buzzer-beater — a good shot from just beyond the free-throw line hit front iron, and the teams headed to double-overtime. In double-overtime, buckets from Martin and White, plus free-throws from Varner and Berry put the Mavs up by four.
With ten seconds left, Powell would inbound, push the ball up the floor, and hit a three. With under five seconds on the clock, holding a one-point lead, Anderson County did not have to inbound.
The Mavs watched the last few seconds tick off the clock and grinded out a big district win. Again, Stanton Martin would lead the Mavs in scoring—finishing with 17 points. The masked Grant Hayes put up double-digits as well, with 11 points.
Stanton was Stanton. Quis was Quis.
Eli Varner’s rebounding. Anthony White, a freshman coming in off the bench and having some big buckets for us—that was a really good win for us,” said Wallace about the Mavs’ win over Powell. Anderson County looks to take care of business Tuesday night at Scott before hosting a huge District-3AAA matchup, this Friday, versus rival Oak Ridge.