Cherokee – Andrews was looking to three-peat with a third consecutive win over Murphy on Thursday, but the Bulldogs had other ideas.
Dominick Rummler exploded for 22 points, and the Bulldogs’ defense held the Cats to 41 points. That put thoughts of an Andrews three-peat to bed as the Dogs dropped the Cats 59-41 in the first round of the Big Smoky Mountain Conference Tournament.
The Georgia Bulldogs did not three-peat as college football champions this year. The Kansas City Chiefs will look to three-peat as Super Bowl champs next year, which has never been done before. The point is – completing a three-peat is hard.
Murphy didn’t take long to issue a statement that they came to play. The Bulldogs jumped out to a 13-9 first-quarter lead and never trailed in the game.
Rummler hit for eight of his 22 points in the first quarter. Zach Skogen was a rebounding machine as Andrews were held to only six offensive rebounds. And Andrews’ leading scorer, Cam Rattler, was held to two first-quarter points.
Murphy extended its lead in the second quarter, when Skogen exploded with three 3-pointers and a field goal for 11 second-quarter points. Rummler added two more, and the Dogs outscored the Cats 13-7 to build a 26-16 halftime lead.
Even though Rummler was not in foul trouble, he was rested for the latter half of the second quarter and first part of the third quarter. The strategy paid off.
Rummler came out during the third quarter and hit another eight points. Will Joyner and Ryan Payne added a couple of 3s, and the Bulldogs extended their lead to 40-28 at the end of three.
Rattler was held to only two second-half points. The Clark boys kept this game from being even worse for the Wildcats; Gabe and Ty accounted for 15 of Andrews’ 25 second-half points, with Gabe hitting for eight and Ty seven.
Andrews closed the lead to seven in the fourth period, but the Bulldogs pulled away and made their free throws to finish the game. Murphy shot 79 percent from the charity stripe to finish the fourth. Xander Wachacha went 5-6 at the stripe and Murphy outscored the Cats 19-13 to net the final.
Rummler led all scorers with 22 points and seven rebounds. Skogen had 14 points and eight rebounds.
Andrews was led by Cam Rattler who had 11 points and eight rebounds. Ty Clark had 10 points for Andrews to round out the players in double figures.