Dragons Castrate Catamounts
Team FYN Sports February 18, 2011
The Pickens County Dragons took on the Catamounts of Dalton High School in the quarterfinal round of the 7AAA Region Basketball Tournament, and secured a 63-55 victory over the host school. The Dragons used a balanced attack, combined with a sticky zone to thwart the Catamounts.The game was back and forth throughout, with both teams exchanging leads like they were on the barter system. The Dragons packed the paint all night; doubling and sometimes triple teaming Dalton’s gargantuan center Watts Dantzler. Dantzler finished with 21 points, 12 rebounds, and two blocks. Dalton fed him in the post all night, and the beast feasted. Dalton’s Tristen Harrell had a game high 23 points; however they were the only two Catamounts to score in double figures, only four total players scored at all. Conversely the Dragons had four different players record double digit points.
(Photo by LT Melton)
The game was tied up 6-6 with 3:20 left in the first quarter. The Dragons took an early lead with a 10-3 run to close out the first quarter. Point guard Jordan Shaw couldn’t have gotten to the hole any easier if he was dating a Kardashian. He finished the quarter with six points, five rebounds and four steals.
The second quarter featured the Dragons getting whatever they wanted inside. Pickens attacked the glass with the gusto of a basehead. Pickens finished the game with only one more rebound than Dalton (54-24). However, half of Dalton’s rebounds were by Dantzler, and many of his came two and three at a time because of missed tip ins. The Dragons ended the half up 25-19.
The second half began with a 10-4 Catamounts run, that featured Harrell sinking more shots than Charlie Sheen at happy hour. He attacked the Dragons’ zone with three pointer after three pointer throughout the quarter. The Catamounts took a 36-34 lead into the fourth quarter.
The final quarter saw Dalton continue to feed Dantzler in the post. Pickens had no answer for him as he was truly “a man amongst boys.” Conversely Shaw was continued driving to the lane for uncontested layups or finding teammates open for threes. The Dragons got hot from threeland, as Spencer Jones (10 points), Wesley Easterwood (12 points), and Sam Crawford (11 points) all hit timely open threes off of Shaw’s penetration.
The two teams battled to a 53-53 stalemate with 3:44 left in the game. The Dragons then went on a game sealing 10-2 run that catastrophically castrated the Catamounts comeback.
(Photo by LT Melton)