Despite Cherry’s 40, Webb dominates; now 12-3
KNOXVILLE — With his team improving to 12-3 after a dominant 81-58 home victory against Austin-East, Webb School of Knoxville boys hoops head coach Ricky Norris singled out one Spartan as being the biggest catalyst sparking a strong start this season.
“I think our point guard is as good as any point guard around,” Norris said about junior Jaylen Pompey after the win Friday night, Dec. 22. “He does all the little things people sometimes don’t see. He’s tough as nails. He’s our leader; our guys feed off his calmness when he’s playing.”
Wing Drake Ingram, the team’s only senior, led Webb in scoring with 22. Owen Lentz added 19 and Cam Swearengen 12, with Wilson Luton and Tahj Bowers each scoring eight.
A 17-8 edge after one quarter for the home team quickly turned into a a 38-22 halftime lead for the Spartans.
“I thought we had a good little stretch there in the second quarter where we separated from them,” Norris said.
Webb built the lead to as many as 25 in the third quarter, which ended 64-42, and led 79-54 with 3:08 remaining after Bowers’ old-fashioned three-point play, basket and free throw.
As for the Raodrunners (falling to 10-6), guard Shane Cherry scored a game-high 40 points.
Overall as a team through 15 games, Norris said he’s most pleased with “the overall attention to doing the little things right. ... Playing each possession as well as we can, not looking too far ahead or not worrying so much about what happened” negatively.
“We’ve improved on that, though we’re young.”
Meanwhile, “We’ve got to continue to develop our depth,” the Spartans head coach added.
