Ads tripped up by Blue Devils
Harriman steals, runs past Farragut
Given Harriman’s ability to force Farragut turnovers and quickly convert them into lay-ups, Admirals skipper Chris Cool pointed to one especially discouraging number.
“We had 18 turnovers at halftime; I don’t know what we ended up with but we were keeping it until halftime,” Cool said after Class AAA Farragit lost to Class A Harriman 74-55 Tuesday night, Nov. 29, in FHS’s Lynn E. Sexton Gymnasium.
Except for a brief run, things didn’t improve in the second half.
Leading 34-18 at halftime, the Blue Devils [2-2] built a 24-point lead, 71-47, midway into the fourth quarter. “I bet they had 30 points off of turnovers and us not getting back on defense after we made a basket,” Cool said.
That’s despite 30 points from Ads senior guard Nick Rogers. “I think they were pretty deep with their bench,” Rogers said. “We just didn’t get back on defense. Turnovers really killed us.”
“[No.] 24 [Rogers] is a great player, we knew that coming in here. I thought Isaiah McClain did a phenomenal job making it tough on him,” HHS head coach Shay Shannon said.
Ethan Sherrill, Admirals junior point guard who picked up three fouls in the first half, scored 13.
Saying a scheduling misunderstanding prevented his boys from participating in a recent tourney, Farragut had played just three games entering this week [1-2].
“I’m not going to use this as an excuse, but we have three guards that have never played varsity” before this season, Cool said. “I think they can be good varsity players, but I think they’re caught up in this AAU up-and-down style. ... I’m disappointed if they don’t learn a lesson because we’ve been talking about that for a couple of weeks now.”
Other FHS scorers were Shawn McKay with five and Elijah Thomas with one point.
Harriman was led offensive by a game-high 23 points from McClain and 18 from Joe Pace.
Farragut fell behind 44-22 midway into the third quarter but rallied. Five points from Sherrill, a basketball from junior post Caleb Thompson [six overall] and a Rogers three-point jumper culminated a 10-2 run, cutting the margin to 46-32 late in the third quarter.
But the Admirals got no closer.
