Story and Photos by Rusty Ellis
The Cookeville Cavaliers are moving on in the region tournament, as they defeated Hendersonville 56-52 on Saturday night.
Both defense came out strong in the first, but it was Cookeville who took a 15-10 lead into the second quarter after a buzzer-beating layup by Josh Heard.
The Cavaliers got a three from Heard to push the lead to 18-10 early in the frame, but Hendersonville stayed within arm’s reach of Cookeville and only trailed 32-25 at the halftime break.
The third quarter saw CHS push the lead to double-digits at 44-30 with 4:27 remaining in the quarter, but Hendersonville locked down on defense and kept the Cavaliers from scoring for the remainder of the period.
The visitors outscored Cookeville 20-12 in the fourth quarter, but it was too little too late, as the Cavaliers held on for a 56-52 victory.
Heard led the way with 28 points for CHS, while Jack Oakley came off the bench to score eight points for head coach Josh Heard.
“It was an ugly game, but I’m glad we won the ugly game,” Heard said. “We get up 14 points in a region game, that’s pretty good…if we did it once, we can do it again.”
Oakley’s performance off the bench gave the Cavs a much-needed boost in the second quarter, though it was hardly surprising for Heard.
“Jack Oakley’s been putting in his time,” Heard said. “We’ve been using him as the scout-team best player, and I think that’s one of the best things that’s ever happened to him…he came in and did exactly what we knew he could do from the beginning of the year.”
If there was anything that stuck out to Heard as far as what needed cleaning up, he made it clear that they needed to be more physical on the defensive glass.
“For us to get pushed around as much as we got pushed around, I was not expecting that,” Heard said. “I’m glad it happened to us tonight, because now we can learn from that and not just be going home and not playing anymore…I know we can rebound the ball. It comes down to heart, that’s all it is.”
