Andrews – After cruising through the first two and a half weeks of games, the Andrews boys basketball team has hit its first speed bump in what looks to be a wide open Big Smoky Mountain Conference.
The Wildcats were coming off a 70-60 loss to Cherokee loss on Dec. 16, and fell short 52-43 in a Dec. 20 home game against Robbinsville. The two losses came after a 6-0 start to the season.
“The main thing we’ve learned is this conference is loaded,” head coach Matt Maennle said. “There is good basketball in this conference. If you don’t come and bring it for four quarters, you’re not going to come away with a win.”
The conference does not have a clear favorite the way Hayesville was last season, though the Black Knights (8-0 overall, 3-0 conference) have come the closest so far this year to taking that mantle. Though Robbinsville is not deep, it plays a disciplined style of basketball, has three good scorers, and length in its starting lineup with four players 6-foot-1 or taller.
The three main scorers did most of the damage against Andrews (6-2, 1-2), with Donovan Carpenter scoring a game-high 18 points, Xander Wachacha adding 15 and Brock Adams adding 13.
“They’ve got a point guard that runs the show,” Maennle said. “Brock Adams, he’s a good ballplayer. The Carpenter kid, he hits some shots early that hurt us, and the Wachacha kid hit some shots late in the game that hurt us. They’ve just got some guys who are good basketball players.”
Carpenter scored 13 of Robbinsville’s first 19 points, 10 of which came on a 15-4 that gave the Black Knights a 19-10 lead early in the second quarter. That flipped the game in their favor after a hot start from Andrews, as Robbinsville’s deliberate style wore the Wildcats down on both ends of the floor. Andrews always hung around, but could never get the one push they needed to retake the lead.
A 3-pointer by Donovan Bateman cut the lead to 19-17 later in the quarter, only for Adams to go on a personal 7-2 run that pushed the lead out to 26-19 at halftime. A lazy pass led to a Carpenter layup to start the second half, then a backcourt violation was followed by an Adams layup. Maennle called timeout, and the Wildcats responded with an 8-0 run to cut the lead to 30-27.
However, Robbinsville had an answer, like it did all night. Wachacha got hot late in the third quarter, hitting three 3-pointers in the final minutes, his final one banking off the glass for a 41-34 lead heading into the final frame.
Andrews once again pushed back to cut the lead to 43-41, but Bryce Adams came up with a huge offensive rebound and second-chance layup to stop the run with about four minutes left. The Wildcats had multiple chances to trim the lead but couldn’t convert.
Wachacha missed two free throws with 3:43 left, only for Andrews to turn it over. Then after another empty possession, Bateman missed two free throws.
The next possession ended with a missed 3-pointer and a jump ball, with the possession arrow going to the Black Knights. Robbinsville would hit seven of eight free throws from there to close out the win.
Andrews returned to the court today against Tuscola, giving the team what Maennle said was a much-needed break after they jumped into basketball immediately following the end of football season. He also wants to see his team cut down on turnovers, which happened too often against Robbinsville, and hit more free throws. The Wildcats shot two for 11 from the foul line in a game they lost by nine points.
“Just live ball turnovers is the big thing, and free throws. We’ve got to knock down more free throws than what we’re hitting right now.”