By Jacob Vinson
The Cookeville Cavaliers boys basketball team moved on to their second-ever region title game with a win against Siegel Tuesday night in the Region 4-4A semifinals, 65-45.
“There was no yelling or celebrating; they expected this,” said Cookeville head coach Joshua Heard. “Their goals are more than just the region semifinals. Those guys believe in this and fight for it. They’re more hungry than happy.”
The Cavaliers poured in 14 three-pointers in the win. Senior Josh Heard led the onslaught as he got the scoring started in the first with back-to-back triples. Siegel burned a timeout after a Jalen Heard three built a 9-2 cavalier lead. Cookeville took a 14-5 advantage to the second quarter.
“We know what our strengths are,” said coach Heard. “We can space out and shoot the ball. Tonight was indicative of how hard we play defense.”
Cookeville was still scorching from outside in the second frame as they hit four more threes and took a 33-20 halftime lead.
Siegel would never get closer than those thirteen points in the second half as Cookeville drained five more deep balls in the second half to win 65-45.
Defensively, the Cavaliers only allowed 13 combined points in the first and third quarters to the Stars who were averaging 61 points per contest entering the game.
With the win the Cavaliers improve to 28-3 overall and move on to their second region title game and sectional appearances in program history.
They will play the LaVergne Wolverines (22-10) in the Region 4-4A championship Thursday night at 7 p.m. at Oakland High School. Cookeville beat the Wolverines twice in the regular season and once in the District 7-4A championship game this season.
