Roll with the changes

Robbinsville – It’s official: the Smoky Mountain Conference has been put on notice.

The Robbinsville Black Knights have grown weary of cellar-dwelling in the division and are changing the narrative. Now in a third-place tie in the highly-competitive conference – following a pair of home wins over Andrews on Friday and Murphy, in overtime, on Tuesday night – Robbinsville’s varsity boys are playing their best basketball in years.

“I don’t know what it is with this group, but they’re not going to quit; there’s no question about that,” boasted Knights head coach Jake Beasley. “They have a ton of heart. We continue to improve every day and by the end of the season, we will be tough to handle.”

“Nobody ever expects us to win, but we’ve came out and pulled off two big conference wins,” noted junior Kamdyn Jordan. “We’ve scared some people.”

Tuesday thriller

The Black Knights sat back and soaked up the emotion pouring from their female counterparts in the varsity contest preceding Tuesday’s nightcap.

Then, Robbinsville took the court and managed to take the emotion to a whole new level.

Much like the Lady Knights, Robbinsville put an end to a nearly two-year drought with its 62-60 overtime win against Murphy, as it marked the first time since Feb. 10, 2019 that the Black Knights had defeated a conference opponent not named Rosman. 

That last win? Against Murphy. At home. A 50-48 final.

It took four extra minutes to get the job done Tuesday, but Robbinsville prevailed.

The Knights had raced ahead 18-8 at the end of the first quarter, but defensive pressure from Murphy (4-3, 3-3) caught Robbinsville off-guard and 

allowed the Bulldogs to go on a 19-5 second quarter, making up all the ground lost in the opening and pulling ahead 27-23 by the halftime buzzer.

Drey Keener’s work in the paint kept the Knights in the fight during the third, though the Bulldogs held a 43-37 advantage at the outset of the fourth. As regulation wound down to under 10 seconds, Nathan Collins caught a wide-open pass and was all alone at the goal; however, his layup sailed over the basket and gave Murphy one more chance to score.

The Bulldogs gave the ball to Abram Abling, who sprinted down the floor and put up a floater that sank through the net at the buzzer, ensuring a quarter of free basketball, as the score was 53-53.

Both teams traded early buckets in overtime, but a putback at the 1-minute mark by Robbinsville’s Eddie Brooms cut Murphy’s lead to 60-59. Brock Adams would later fight through a pair of Bulldogs’ defenders to sink the go-ahead basket with 25 seconds left. 

Murphy’s Drew Hodge was then stopped short of a drive to the goal, forced to travel – by Collins – with 10 seconds left. Adams was soon fouled as a last-ditch effort and hit one final shot from the charity stripe in the closing seconds, to seal the Bulldogs’ fate.

“It would’ve been really easy to turn it down a notch, hang our heads,” Beasley pointed out. “I looked at Nathan – as he hung his head, after he thought he’d blown the game – and I said, ‘Nathan, you’re going to make the play to win this basketball game.’ Lo and behold, he makes a stop for us at the end of the game.”

Taming the Cats

Prior to Friday, the Knights had not knocked off the Andrews Wildcats since a 55-49 home victory Dec. 21, 2017.

But thanks to a combination of a impenetrable second-half defense and clutch shots down the stretch, Robbinsville (4-3, 3-3) toppled the neighboring Wildcats, 57-55.

Though Andrews (2-4, 2-4) continued to chip away at a fourth-quarter deficit, Robbinsville would not be denied, as Collins would later make a pair of free throws with nine seconds left – moments after Andrews’ Bryson Holloway missed a potential game-tying 3 – to seal up the Knights’ victory.

Junior varsity

Robbinsville’s perfect junior varsity season also continued last week, with the Knights (5-0) disposing of Andrews 50-28 and Murphy 48-44.

Against the Wildcats, Xander Wachacha’s 17 points led the Knights offense. Also scoring for Robbinsville was Donovan Carpenter 12, Michael Green 10, Bo Rattler 4, Ryan Witner 3, C.J. Ornelas 2 and Koleson Dooley 2.

Wachacha posted 25 points in Tuesday’s win over the Bulldogs. Others filling out the scoreline were Ornelas 8, Rattler 5, Andrew Thacker 4, Nathaniel Shope 2, Green 2 and Carpenter 2.