Clarksville, TN – Revenge wasn’t top-seeded Northeast’s main focus going into its Boys District 10-AAA Tournament game against fourth-seeded Clarksville High Friday night at Northeast.
But the state’s fifth-ranked Eagles were certainly cognizant of the fact the Wildcats handed them their only loss in district play in the regular season and used that as motivation in handing Clarksville High a 61-41 defeat Saturday night.
With the victory, Northeast (26-2) earns a spot in the 10-AAA Championship game and will face second-seeded Dickson County at 7:30pm Thursday. The winner would also secure the top-seed for 10-AAA in the Region 5-AAA Tournament that starts Tuesday at Northeast.Kenwood will take on Clarksville High in the third-place game at 6:00pm Tuesday and all four teams are advancing on to the Region 5-AAA Tournament.
Alex Poythress scored 31 points in the Eagles’ win and in the process went over the 2,000-point career mark. The Kentucky signee now has 2,018 points since the first day he donned an Eagles’ jersey.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzzIUiMDlIM[/youtube]
“You always want to play against the teams that beat you so you can prove that you can beat them again,” Poythress said. “But it feels pretty good getting into the championship game.”
Clarksville High was led by Daijon Williams 19 points. Clarksville High will play in the third-place game against Dickson County on Tuesday at Northeast High at 6:00pm and has also advance to the Region 5-AAA Tournament.
Like two old rivals should, the first quarter was a nip-and-tuck affair that saw Clarksville High jump out to a 8-4 lead on Williams’ 3-pointer with 3:40 left in the period. But Northeast responded with a 7-3 run and took a 11-8 lead on Nick Agnew’s 3 with 28.7 seconds to go in the stanza.
Things didn’t go much differently for either team in the third quarter as Northeast opened it by outscoring CHS 13-6 in the first part to go ahead 43-25 with 3:12 to go on Myron Poydras’ lay up. The two teams were virtually even the rest of the third, with the Eagles outscoring the Widcats 9-7 down the stretch and taking a 52-32 advantage into the fourth quarter.
Both teams scored nine points in the final period, en route to the 61-41 final score and win by Northeast.
“We put a report together and had a game plan on them and I think our guys did a great job of following that,” NEHS boys coach Al Cooper said.
Box Score
Northeast 61, Clarksville High 41
Box Score | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | FINAL |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Clarksville High | 11 | 6 | 15 | 9 | — 41 |
Northeast | 11 | 19 | 22 | 9 | — 61 |
Clarksville High 41
Player | Points | FGs | 3pts | FTs |
---|---|---|---|---|
Tyriek Cheatham | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
22 Lawrenz Guerra | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
15 Anthony Hightower | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
4 Eric Holmes | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
30 Tevin Majors | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
3 Daijon Williams | 19 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
14 Drake Young | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Northeast 61
Player | Points | FGs | 3pts | FTs |
---|---|---|---|---|
55 Nick Agnew | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
20 Jaylen Baker | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
10 Will Best | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
15 Carlos Herrera | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
23 Michael Pardue | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
32 Myron Poydras | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
22 Alex Poythress | 31 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
5 Jamil Wilkins | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 |