Clarksville, TN – After leading for most of the night, it was Northeast High School that had to rally in the final minute of its District 10-AAA opener, December 3rd, as the Eagles edged the Clarksville High Wildcats, 56-54.
Northeast (4-3, 1-0 District 10-AAA) led by as many as 13 points in the first half against the Wildcats, but saw themselves down 54-51 – with 1:11 left in the game – after Clarksville High had put together a 10-0 run in a span of a 1:48.
D.J. Wright would start the comeback off with a driving teardrop layup over a Wildcat defender with 43 seconds left to cut the CHS lead to one, 54-53.Clarksville High (0-6, 0-1 District 10-AAA) would come down and see J.J. Jones for an off-balanced shot that wouldn’t fall with Northeast getting the rebound.
Northeast would come down and see Wright miss on a drive to the basket, but Nick Severado was in the right spot for the Eagles, and came up with the rebound and put-back bucket to give Northeast the lead, 55-54, with 19 seconds left.
Clarksville High still had a chance to retake the lead with its final possession, but Jeff Webb missed a contested three, with the Eagles Anterrian Cheatham getting fouled on the rebound with just seven-tenths of a second left.
Cheatham would hit the first and miss the second, with Clarksville High’s desperation final heave falling well short of the basket to get the Eagles the two-point victory.
Cheatham, along with, D’Andre Cross and J’Quan Purnell would lead the Eagles with 11 points each.
Northeast would sprint out of the gates to open the game, as the Eagles got out to a 12-1 lead in the first 4:24.
Clarksville High would close the quarter outscoring Northeast 6-2, but still trail by seven points, 14-7, after the first eight minutes of play.
The second quarter would Northeast extend its lead out to 13 points, 22-9, following a bucket by Purnell with 2:05 left before intermission, but CHS would close the first half with a 9-1 run over the final 1:59 to trail by five at intermission, 23-18.
Clarksville High would carry the momentum of the final two minutes of the first half into the third quarter, as the Wildcats opened up the period with a 12-6 run to take its first lead of the game, 30-29, with 3:38 left in the quarter on one-of-two free throws by Tariq Silver.
The two teams would exchange the lead four times in the final three minutes of the third quarter, with Clarksville High taking a 38-36 lead into the final quarter following a three-point shot by Teal Young with 47 seconds.
Box Score
Northeast 56, Clarksville High 54
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | Final | |
Clarksville High Wildcats | 7 | 11 | 20 | 18 | 54 |
Northeast Eagles | 14 | 9 | 13 | 20 | 56 |
Clarksville High: Jeff Webb 14, J.J. Jones 8, Tyriek Cheatham 2, Teal Young 9, Avery Bates 7, Tariq Silver 12, Brevon Johnson 2. Team totals 18 13-27 54.
Northeast: Anterrian Cheatham 11, Nick Severado 6, D.J. Wright 7, Dre Felton 2, Jontae’ Brown 8, D’Andre Cross 11, J’Quan Purnell 11. Team totals 21 13-22 56.
3-point field goals: Clarksville High 5 (Webb 1, Young 2, Silver 2), Northeast 1 (Cross 1).
Records: Clarksville High 0-6, 0-1 District 10-AAA; Northeast 4-3, 1-0 District 10-AAA.