Gordon Lee boys defend home court against Trion
Clinging to a two-point lead over rival Trion with time ticking down this past Friday night, the Gordon Lee Trojans needed someone to step up and make a defensive play.
That someone turned out to be Jordan Underwood.
The junior was able to steal the ball at midcourt with 20 seconds left and drive in for a lay-up. His shot rolled off the rim, but he was able to track down the offensive rebound and feed freshman post player Sam Sartin for an easy bucket with 12.3 seconds left to seal a hardfought 42-38 Region 6-A victory over the Bulldogs.
It was just one of several big defensive plays turned in by Gordon Lee on a night where points were hard to come by for both teams.
“We were off tonight (offensively),” said GL head coach Matt Smith said. “At halftime, we realized that if weren’t scoring, we were going to have to hang on our hat on our defense. We got out of the press and went a solid, half-court man-toman. We held them to just 38 points and only 16 in the second half, so we did a good job defensively, but we’ve got a lot to clean up offensively.”
The Bulldogs led 11-4 early on as Greyson Patty scored eight quick points on drives to the basket. However, Gordon Lee closed out the period on a 7-0 run to tie the score.
The first two possessions for the Bulldogs in the second quarter both resulted in steals and lay-ups for Gordon Lee, one by Josh Underwood and the other by Robert Henson, and the Trojans were able to maintain their four-point advantage going into halftime.
Points were even more at a premium in the third quarter as the two teams combined for just 15, while tough defense from both teams resulted in numerous missed shots and turnovers.
Up by three with a less than a minute to go, Will McCutcheon drove the lane and drew a foul. He made both shots and, following a Trion miss at the other end, got the ball back in his hands and made a tough shot off the glass just before the horn as the Trojans took their biggest lead of the night, 35-28, going into the final period of play.
Down by six with five minutes remaining, the Bulldogs made a run. Jerryn Skelton connected on a 3-pointer and Logan Stokes hit 1 of 2 at the line 40 seconds later before Stokes drained a three from the wing to put Trion back in front, 38-37, with 2:41 to play.
Things were starting to look bleak for the home team as they missed 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions. But following another defensive stop, Sartin got a short jump-hook to fall with 1:25 left, putting Gordon Lee back in front by a point.
After a defensive stop, the Navy-and-White missed another 3-point attempt. However, Sartin came up with a big offensive rebound to regain possession for his team with 50 seconds left.
With the shot clock ticking down, McCutcheon made another strong move to the hoop and drew a foul with 29 seconds to go. He made the second of two free throws to put his team up by two, setting up Underwood’s defensive heroics moments later.
Sartin had 14 points and was the only player for either team to score in double figures. McCutcheon had seven points, followed by Jordan Underwood with six and Andrew Amor with five. Hunter Holmes was limited to just four points, while two each from Henson, Cooper Jackson and Josh Underwood filled out the scoring column.
“I believe we can be a topfour team (in the region) and that’s our goal,” Smith added. “Right now, we’re tied for third, but we’ve still got 10 region games to go. It’s a really competitive region from No. 3 to No. 7. There’s about five teams, including us, that could finish third or fourth, or we all could finish fifth, sixth or seventh, but going into the region tournament, you really want to be in the top four so you don’t have to play three or four (tournament) games.
“I think we can do that, but we’re going to have to put more than 42 points on the board.”
Points were equally as hard to come by in the opener too as the Lady Trojans held the state-ranked Lady Bulldogs to just eight points in the first half. However, they were unable to hang on to the lead in the second half.
Gordon Lee led 18-8 at intermission, but managed one lone free throw in the third quarter as Trion pulled within two points of the lead, 19-17, going into the fourth.
The Lady Trojans got a quick basket from Riley Shirley to begin the final period, but an Emma Phillips bucket with 3:28 to go turned out to be the only other made field goal for the home team for the rest of the game.
The Lady Bulldogs would go 17 of 25 at the free throw line on the night and 9 of 15 in the fourth quarter as they took the lead with 4:52 to play and never gave it back.
Phillips finished with 11 points on the night, followed by six from Shirley, five from Emma McGraw and one from Tenslee Wilson. The Lady Trojans were 2 of 9 at the free throw line and shot less than 20 percent from the floor for the game.
Scott Herpst is sports editor for the Walker County Messenger in LaFayette, Ga., and Catoosa County News in Ringgold, Ga.