by Malcolm Butler
It came down to the very end.
Cedar Creek’s Jake Terry stepped to the line with no time remaining on the clock and a chance to tie or win the game against Class 5A Haughton.
Trailing 53-51, Terry was fouled attempting a last second three-pointer. After hitting the first free throw to cut the deficit to a single point, Terry saw his last two attempts hit off the back of the rim as the Bucs survived a 53-52 scare by the Class A Cougars Thursday night in the Quitman Tournament.
In a game that saw numerous ties and lead changes, Haughton (2-4) hit a short jumper with 4 seconds to play to take a 53-51 advantage. After a timeout by the Cougars, Cedar Creek (3-1) inbounded the ball to Terry in the back court who raced up the sideline where he was able to get off the three-pointer at the buzzer, drawing the foul.
“We didn’t know whether they were going to come out in full court man,” said Creek head coach Lance Waldron of the team huddle conversation in the timeout. “From film, they hadn’t played full court man this season, but we were thinking they might. They didn’t. We had a play drawn up for that. They were in a zone, and there really isn’t a play you can draw up for a full court zone. We had two options.
“The message coming out of the time out was if they were in a zone, we were going to push the ball and try to get a good shot.”
Trailing 21-17 at halftime, the Cougars recorded one of their best quarters of the young season, outscoring Haughton 26-13 in the third thanks in large part to Terry. After being held to only one point in the first half, Terry erupted for 20 points after halftime, including 12 in the third stanza.
“Jake is one of our scorers, and we have confidence in him,” said Waldron. “And we are going to keep going to him. He did a great job tonight.”
Creek led by as many as 14 points in the third quarter as Terry gave the Cougars a 41-27 advantage with 60 seconds to play in the frame.
Haughton guard Josh Ross, who finished with 14 points, hit back-to-back three-pointers to close the deficit to 43-34 at the end of the third.
Creek led 51-48 with less than two minutes to play when senior guard Cannon Robbins, who led all scorers with 24 points, fouled out on a charge call.
Haughton hit a free throw with 1:42 to play but missed the second foul shot. However, the Bucs pulled down the offensive rebound and tied the game at 51-51 on a putback.
The Cougars then went into a delay offense, appearing poised to take the last shot of the game. However, Terry got a look in the lane with 20 seconds to play, but misfired on the go-ahead attempt and Haughton pulled down the defensive rebound.
“With Cannon out of the game, we wanted to shorten the game,” said Waldron. “We didn’t necessarily want to get the last shot, but we wanted to get a good shot.”
The Cougars jumped out of the gates strong, taking a 14-4 lead after the first quarter. However, Creek went ice cold in the second, being outscored 17-3.
“We wound up getting into a rhythm in the first quarter and playing hard,” said Waldron. “We turned things up in the first quarter, but it takes four quarters to win a game.”
Creek will return to action today when they face Jonesboro at 5:15 p.m.
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Cedar Creek Scoring: FG(3FG)-FT-TP
Cameron Temple 1-0-2; Cannon Robbins 9(4)-2-24; Brett Bell 2(1)-0-5; Luke Waldron 0-1-1; Jake Terry 9-3-21. Totals: 21(5)-6-53
Score by Quarters
Cedar Creek 14-3-26-9=52
Haughton 4-17-13-19=53
