Black Knights rally in 4th quarter
Cherokee – It was time to take the Braves to school.
Robbinsville trailed Cherokee for much of Tuesday’s Smoky Mountain Conference showdown, but the hosting Braves had to learn a cold, hard lesson that 14 other teams (so far) this year have already discovered in their textbooks: you never, ever, under any circumstance, count out the Black Knights.
In what played out as a methodical rally, Robbinsville (14-4, 6-1) finished off the season sweep of Cherokee (11-8, 5-2) with a Brock Adams lob to Donovan Carpenter for a dunk at the 5-second mark of a 58-48 comeback win over a stunned Braves program inside the Charles George Memorial Arena.
“I don’t know if it’s depth perception or what (Cherokee uses standing goals), but every time we come up here, we do not shoot the ball well at all,” Robbinsville head coach Jake Beasley noted.
“At halftime, I told them that as bad as we shot, we were still only down by three points. That’s one possession.”
“These kids play their hind-ends off every single night. I’m just lucky to be a part of it. They buy into everything we ask them to do; they refuse to lose. On any given night, I would take them against anybody. That’s not just me saying that as a coach: I believe in them and they believe in each other that much.”
Without question, Cherokee sprinted onto the court with fire. Jack Teesateskie sank a trio of trey’s in the first quarter, while Tso Smith hit a 3 of his own to push the Braves out front 19-11.
In response, the Knights stuck to what has brought them to the dance all season: speed, finesse and composure. Robbinsville had cut the trouble to 26-23 at recess and even 36-34 by the outset of the fourth. The Black Knights later snatched their first lead of the game with 5:50 to go, when Xander Wachacha – who finished with a double-double: 12 points, 12 rebounds – sank one from outside. Bryce Adams hit a floater in the seconds after a timeout and Robbinsville led 41-38.
What followed was a brief flurry of lead changes, until a Brock Adams go-ahead made it 46-45, which proved to be the last time the Knights surrendered control.
With Tuesday’s game in mind, Brock Adams has scored 22 for three games in a row.
“Brock is a special player; no doubt about it,” said Beasley. “He is very, very good at getting to the goal; I don’t know that anybody can stop him. He’s bought into that, instead of settling for jump shots.
“It’s not just him, though. He’s went for 22 in the last three games, but that could easily be any one of these kids. It might be Brock one night, Xander one night or Donovan one night. We’re so well-rounded. This is a very special group of kids and this is just the beginning for them.”
Double take
Robbinsville – The Knights were keenly aware of their shortcomings in a 63-53 road loss to Cocke County, Tenn., on Jan. 6.
A repeat performance would not be acceptable in Jan. 18’s return affair in Robbinsville. It took another six-period effort (the Black Knights have forced double overtime twice this season and are 5-0 in extra quarters this season), but endurance and finesse prevailed over size and flaring tempers down the stretch in a wild 72-70 Robbinsville win.
The Fighting Cocks had placed a 16-13 wing on the proceedings after one quarter, but the Knights came out flogging in the second and pulled ahead 34-31 at the recess. The theme of the game continued uninterrupted in the second half, with neither team securing more than a 3-point lead until the fourth, when Cocke County (11-9) opened a 53-45 nod on the back of Ethan Fine, who connected for a pair of 3’s and a jumper from just inside the line.
Undaunted, Robbinsville pushed forward and with 38 seconds left, a pair of free throws from Bryce Adams forced a 58-58 stalemate, which carried into overtime. The initial pass resulted in a low 4-4 tilt and the second freebie seemed destined to end in another tie.
Carpenter had shouted at the team during an overtime timeout, “No matter how tired we are, we’re going to win this ballgame.”
Brock Adams heeded the call. Seeing an inside opening, he weaved beautifully into the paint and toward the paint, tipping a lay-up through the net that gave Robbinsville a 72-70 advantage. Cocke County was unable to find the basket in response and the final heave came when Kyler Hayes launched a shot from half-court. While the Globetrotter 4-pointer found the backboard, it was wide left and the Black Knights had their redemption.
1st division loss
Bryson City – The Maroon Devils came out swinging.
In response, Robbinsville offered little for the judges to score the first period of Jan. 19’s conference showdown at Swain County in its favor.
The swelling around the black eye from a 30-8 opening stint for the Devils soon disappeared, but the Black Knights’ late push was not enough to hold onto their pursuit of divisional perfection, as Robbinsville fell in a stunning 71-67 loss to Swain.
“I don’t want to say ‘flat’ or ‘out of it,’ but emotionally we were just drained from that double-overtime game the night before,” Beasley said. “I knew they wanted redemption against Cocke County, but I kept preaching to them, ‘Hey guys, the Swain game matters more because it’s a conference game.’
“But I’m super proud of them, too, even though it didn’t go our way. We were down 26 points in the second quarter and came back to pull ahead in the fourth.”
Shirking off the opening hooks, Robbinsville kindly repaid the debt in the third, coming out of the locker room with a 29-7 flurry that temporarily had the Maroon Devils on spaghetti legs. With the deficit cut to 56-54, the Black Knights managed to seize the reins in the final quarter, even opening a 4-point lead at one juncture.
But Swain County (8-10, 4-4) had already tasted the blood trickling from Robbinsville’s lip. Specifically, the Winchester’s – Reese and Riley – accounted for 12 of the Maroon Devils’ 15 points in the segment, with the Devils able to simply outpace the Knights’ comeback bid.
Junior varsity
The Black Knights also suited up for preliminary action throughout the week. Along the way, Robbinsville (5-8) dropped a 51-34 pairing to Cocke County, Tenn.; fell in a harsh 53-50 loss at Swain County; and got back in the win column with a 54-44 win at Cherokee.
Luke Lovin pulled just ahead of Dane Knott for the team lead in points against Cocke County, with Lovin posting 13 to Knott’s 12.
Also scoring for the Knights were Isaiah Brown, 4; Kyzik Teesateskie, 3; and Isiac Collins, 2.
In Bryson City, Knott amassed 22 points – with 16 of those coming from the field. Lovin recorded 12, while Collins dropped six on the Maroon Devils. Brown’s 4 and Kasen Buchanan’s 2 closed the book on the offense.
Against Cherokee, Knott paced the field with 18 points for Robbinsville. Collins recorded 11, while Lovin connected for eight.
Fleshing out the tally was Teesateskie, 7; Brown, 5; Logan Callaway, 3; and Drake Anderson, 2.