Late struggles in loss to Hayesville
Andrews – Jan. 17 was a fun night in the Ken Solesbee Athletic Center for the Andrews boys basketball team.
The Wildcats jumped out to a big early lead against Highlands, including a running clock for most of the fourth quarter. All healthy players got playing time and scored in the 72-24 win.
“It’s good to get everybody some playing time,” head coach Matt Maennle said. “They deserve it with how hard they work in practices. When the games get tighter, I’ll have my typical rotations like I’ve had all year, but it is good to see the guys tonight having fun and pulling for one another like they did tonight and last night.”
In both Andrews’ (12-5 overall) win over the Highlanders (2-11) and the previous night over Nantahala (2-9), the Wildcats blitzed both teams from the beginning. Neither team could match Andrews’ size and speed, as was the case in the matchups earlier this season.
The Wildcats led 27-12 after the first quarter and 45-15 at halftime, allowing Maennle to try different things on both ends of the floor. Some could be used again as Andrews enters the homestretch of the regular season.
“Some stuff looked good,” Maennle said. “Some stuff looked a little rusty that you know we got to improve on.”
The lead ballooned to more than 40 for most of the fourth quarter, allowing Andrews reserves to get in some good minutes. While Donovan Bateman led the way with 13 points, 3-pointers from Hayden White and Andy Tatham and a 3-point play by Jonathan Bass sent the bench into a frenzy.
It’s that energy that Maennle hopes his team takes going forward. There are some things to improve, like taking a little bit better care of the basketball and trying to do too much on offense, but the confidence could help as the conference play resumes.
“That’s what we talked about in the locker room there. We needed that,” Maennle said.
“Not that we’ve been playing bad but to win the way we did and have fun the way we did tonight and the last few nights, moving forward.”
After vanquishing three straight Little Smoky Mountain Conference teams, the Wildcats were competitive at Hayesville (10-6) before falling apart in the fourth quarter of a 66-40 loss on Jan. 21. After a Ty Clark 3-pointer tied the game at 37 late in the third quarter, the Yellow Jackets closed the game on a 29-3 run. Hayesville senior Ethan Hooper was responsible for almost the whole run, scoring 25 of his team’s last 29 points on his way to a game-high 36 points.
Prior to that, it felt like either team’s game. Andrews led 16-13 after the first quarter, but struggled with the Yellow Jackets’ press and half-court trap, which resulted in some sloppy turnovers. They also struggled to limit Hooper and Logan Caldwell, who both had 11 in the first half to help Hayesville lead 29-23 at halftime.
Layups by Taylor McClure and Kyle Lunsford pushed the Yellow Jackets’ lead to a 33-23 lead early in the third quarter before Maennle called timeout. The Wildcats battled back with a 12-4 run to tie the game at 37, only to let Lunsford get a layup and Hooper a three-point play in the final minute of the frame. Things snowballed from there, with the final result Andrews’ worst loss this season.
The Wildcats looked to get back on track Tuesday against Swain County, then have another tough test at Franklin today before hosting Cherokee on Friday.
“We’ve got some big games to play,” Maennle said. “And we just got to keep working, getting better as a team.”