Grissom scoring burst sparks Vikes

Zeke Grissom picked a great time to erupt for a season-high 21 points to help Community Junior High avenge an early season double-digit road loss to Middle Tennessee Christian with a 56-53 victory on Monday night.

The Purple and Gold (5-3) dominated the first quarter with an outstanding pressure defense and were able to convert six Cougar turnovers into points as Grissom put up a 10 spot and Blake Fanning added four points to lead their squad to a 16-8 lead at the horn.

"That is probably the best first quarter that we have played in a long time," Viking coach Jace Bryant said. "Our defense was excellent and we were able to put the ball in the hole consistently.

"We can be a handful when we play like we are capable."

The second quarter was more of the same as the Vikings continued to force the Cougars (6-3) into bad decisions and sloppy ballhandling and got two 3-pointers from Taylor Paschal to maintain their advantage at 30-22 at intermission.

Community came out strong in the third frame behind six points by Logan Pierce and 3-pointers by Paschal and Luke Primm to take a 46-37 cushion into the fourth quarter.

The Cougars made things very interesting as Derrick Spears and Chase Smotherman combined for 11 points to cut the lead to as little as five points with a little over two minutes remaining.

A Pierce steal served as the nail and a 3 from deep in the corner by Quinn Frost hammered it home at the 1:00 mark as the Vikings held on to tame the Cougars and even the season series.

"We lost our composure a little bit in the last quarter but recovered when we really needed to there at the end," Bryant said. "The kids can be proud of that.

"I know I am."

Spears earned game-high honors with 22 points for the Cougars.

Grissom's 21 was supported by nine points apiece by Paschal and Primm.

The Vikings buried six treys in the contest.

Middle Tennessee Christian 49, Community 25 (G): The Lady Cougars (9-0) scored the first nine points of the game and never looked back while utilizing a deep bench to wear down the Viqueens and win going away.

Alexa Middleton paced the visitors with eight points in the first quarter, including a pair of 3s to open up a 14-1 lead going to the second period.

Megan Smith scored five points in the paint and Tayler Andrews, Kristen Ray and Katie Leverette added baskets to cut the deficit to seven in the frame, but it would be as close as the Viqueens (3-5) would get.

"We let them jump on us pretty good in the opening minutes before we got settled down," Community coach Kevin Hinson said. "We made a nice little run at them and seemed to be finding a nice rhythm but they took us out of it with some pretty physical play.

"They have a good team with some impressive athletes. Every time that we made a good play they had an answer."

The Lady Cougars held the Viqueens to just four points after the half while Sydney Shadowens hit for seven points to open a 39-17 cushion to begin the last quarter of play.

Middleton led all scorers with 14 points in limited action for the visitors who put an impressive nine players in the scoring column.

Smith led the Viqueens with 11.

Community welcomes Cascade on Thursday at 6.