Hiwassee Dam – After trailing 25-23 at Hiwassee Dam at halftime on Jan. 10, Andrews boys basketball head coach Matt Maennle wasn’t super frustrated with his team. The Eagles’ home gym is a tough place to play and for opponents to get into a rhythm.
However, some glimpses showed to start the third quarter and that led to an onslaught in the early minutes of the fourth quarter, as the Wildcats separated to start the final frame on their way to a 61-49 win against Hiwassee Dam.
“We just kept playing and found the way to take the lead,” Maennle said. “And brought it home from there.”
The first half was filled with small moments that didn’t go Andrews’ (10-5 overall) way. The Eagles threw some junk defense on the Wildcats, including a triangle and two on Cameron Rattler and Donovan Bateman, and also double-teamed Rattler when he got the ball.
Most of Andrews’ shots came from the perimeter in the first half. They were good looks, but not enough of them fell.
With things bogged down a bit in the half court, sophomore Ty Clark again provided a spark. He scored 10 of his team-high 13 points in the first half, his fourth straight game in double figures.
“It’s a tough place to come in and play like you need to,” Maennle said. “It was good for Ty to come off the bench and give us another spark. He hit a couple shots that helped us out a lot there.”
On the other end, Hiwassee Dam (6-8) did what it needed to do to stick around, getting three 3-pointers from Preston Hyde and 10 points from Clay Davis to lead at halftime. Davis finished with a game-high 16 points, while Hyde added 12 on a night the Eagles were without starting point guard Leo Hickson due to an undisclosed injury.
“We played well for three quarters,” Eagles head coach Mark Raper said. “The game got a little physical and got away from us.”
The Wildcats looked different to start the second half, with Austin Martin, Rattler and Drew Martin each scoring to force a Hiwassee Dam timeout early in the quarter.
The Eagles hung around for much of the period and were only down two until a 3-pointer by Clark with about 20 seconds remaining in the third quarter gave Andrews some breathing room heading into the final frame.
That started a 21-2 run for the Wildcats that lasted until Maennle emptied the bench with about three minutes remaining in the game. Andrews turned up the pressure on Hiwassee Dam’s guards to get fast-break opportunities and continued to attack inside.
Maennle credited Drew Martin’s work in the high post for opening things up on offense, and Burch got several easy baskets off hustle plays. A 3-pointer by Bateman extended the lead to 58-38 with about three minutes left.
“Just doing the little things is a lot of what happened tonight in the second half,” Maennle said. “And the start of fourth quarter, it was incredible what we did defensively.”
After back-to-back games against Nantahala and Highlands to start the week, the Wildcats dive right back into Big Smoky Mountain Conference play at Hayesville on Friday. The goal is to try to keep working and get a few more shots to fall, as there are no easy nights in the Big SMC this year.
This was the third of four straight games against Big SMC competition for the Eagles, who finished that stretch against Cherokee on Tuesday. They host Copper Basin, Tenn., on Friday.