by Rusty Ellis
MURFREESBORO – The Cookeville Cavaliers are moving on in the Class 4A State Tournament, as they defeated Maryville 70-60 for the program’s first-ever state tournament victory.
“We’re happy, we know we’ve got some stuff we need to continue to work on,” said CHS head coach Josh Heard. “I’m proud of our grind in that second half, it just shows our leadership. I’m happy for them, but like I’ve said before, we’ve got two more games.”
Offense was hard to come by for Cookeville early, as they shot just 3-9 in the first quarter. The defense and free throw shooting kept them in the game, with the Cavaliers going 8-10 from the charity stripe to keep it a 17-14 game going into the second quarter.
There, the Cavs began to knock down shots, as Jack Oakley’s three with 1:39 to go in the half made it just a 27-26 lead for Maryville. Colin Ayers delivered the final dagger of the first half with his buzzer-beating three to give the Cavs a 31-29 lead going into halftime.
A red-hot shooting third quarter saw the Cavaliers shoot 7-10 from the floor to extend the lead to six, as Jalen Heard’s layup at the 4:30 mark of the frame gave Cookeville a 44-38 lead. After Bennett Reeves’ basket with six seconds remaining, it was the Cavaliers who held a 48-43 lead to start the fourth quarter.
Jaren Davis’ jumper with 5:40 to go in the game gave Cookeville it’s first double-digit lead at 57-47, and the Cavaliers never looked back in a 70-60 win to advance to the Class 4A State Semifinals.
On a day where Josh Heard was in foul trouble, Ayers (19 points) and Davis (18 points off the bench) provided the scoring punch for Cookeville, just another testament to the depth the Cavaliers possess.
“I’ve always said regardless of the lineup, we have the five best people on the floor,” Heard said. “Everybody sees the seven that play, but our depth runs 14 deep…the seven that everyone sees, they’re very tough, but they’re made tougher by everyone on the team.”
Davis has embraced the role as the team’s sixth man, and it showed in his 7-11 shooting performance on Wednesday.
“Josh got into foul trouble, so I knew someone had to step up,” Davis said. “That’s what I wanted to do, step up.”
Cookeville will now await the winner of Bartlett/Brentwood on Friday at 9:30 A.M. Heard says the defensive intensity his team has shown so far will be the biggest key to keeping the season alive.
“I can go back to a couple games where our shooting didn’t bail us out,” Heard said. “We don’t want our three-point shooting to bail our defense out, I thought today was just a testament to our defense. We got stops when we needed it…the biggest thing I tell these boys is that defense travels, that’s (the mindset) we have to come out with.”
