Middle School Boys’ Basketball: Catoosa County teams keep rolling
The boys’ basketball teams in Catoosa County continued to set the pace in the North Georgia Athletic Conference as all three swept their games last week.
The game of the week came last Tuesday as Heritage and Gordon Lee battled in a nail-biter in Chickamauga. Heritage won the game, 46-44, but the outcome wasn’t decided until the final second of the game.
The Generals jumped out to a 15-3 lead after the first quarter, only to see Gordon Lee come back to cut the gap down to 25-21 by halftime. The Generals took a six-point lead, 35-29, going into the final period, but the Trojans would once again answer and eventually scored with 20 seconds remaining to knot the score at 44.
Kaden Swope would respond for the Generals by driving in for a coast-tocoast lay-up and Gordon Lee would call timeout with five ticks left on the clock. Following another timeout, this one by Heritage, the Trojans got the ball inbound, but Heritage would commit the foul before Gordon Lee could get up a shot, giving the Trojans a 1-and-1 opportunity at the foul line with 0.5 left to play.
However, the shot was off the mark and Heritage would grab the rebound to secure the narrow victory.
Swope picked up 13 points, nine rebounds, three assists and three blocks, while Bryce Travillian led the team with 16 points to go with seven boards, two assists and a block. Paxton Mccrary had six points and nine rebounds. Payton Newman had six points, five rebounds and four steals. J.D. Black finished with four points and two rebounds, while J.J. Hunt scored one point and pulled down a pair of rebounds.
Nate Dunfee had four 3-pointers and led the Trojans with 12 points. Brodie Genter added nine points and Kade Cowan dropped in eight. Holt Roberts finished with six points, followed by Conner Whitman and Hunter Holmes with three each, Sam Carswell with two and Jordan Underwood with one.
Heritage capped the week with a 59-24 win at Saddle Ridge as Swope led the Generals with 13 points, including 11 points in the first period. Kaleb Biddle scored 10 of his 12 points in the second quarter, while Newman had eight points and grabbed a team-high 14 rebounds.
Caiden Bauldwin had seven points, three assists, three rebounds and three steals. Travillian finished with five points, four rebounds, three blocks and a steal. Jedd Johnson had four points and eight boards, while J.C. Armour collected four points, four assists and five rebounds. Mccrary had two points, two assists and four steals. Hunt picked up two points and three rebounds, while Black rounded things out with two points and two boards.