MTC too much for Community Middle

Community Middle's boys started well but the ending was not to their liking as Middle Tennessee Christian Middle took advantage of a 25-point effort by Derrick Spears to coast to a 55-40 win Thursday night.

It was the Cougars' third win in as many tries this season against the Bedford County squad.

In the first stanza, Taylor Paschal, Blake Fanning and Tanner Simmons combined for 10 points and the Community defense was outstanding as they held the visitors to just eight points.

The defense continued to smother the Cougar offense in the second frame, allowing just four points while Quinn Frost led the Viking (7-8) offense to a 15-12 halftime advantage with a clutch 3-pointer with under two minutes remaining.

"I couldn't be more pleased with our defense in the first two quarters," Viking coach Robbie Davis said. "The kids hustled to the ball and really took them out of their offense for the most part. We had some trouble getting our shots to fall but overall, it was a good half."

The offenses heated up in the third quarter, with the lead exchanging hands on three occasions, but the visitors emerged with the upper hand behind a superb 10-point effort by Spears. His total included two 3-pointers that either tied the game or gave his team the lead. MTC led 26-23 when the dust settled.

Austin Carpenter hustled his way to three rebounds and six points in the period for the Vikes.

The Vikings enjoyed their best offensive output of the game in the final session with Paschal and Luke Primm hitting for five each and Fanning throwing down four but the Cougars were not to be denied as they benefitted from multiple baskets by Spears, Devin Epps and Tyler Lamb.

"It was like watching two different teams," Davis said. "I asked them in the huddle during a timeout what happened to make them change the way they had been playing.

"I know that there are no easy answers but we went from playing great defense to standing around and watching them shoot layups."

Unable to overtake the Cougar offense, the Purple and Gold were forced to foul in an effort to preserve the clock. The opponents made them pay for that strategy by sinking 11-of-15 shots from the charity stripe to close out the game.

"We made a little run at them but they made more plays than we did," Davis said. "We have some work to do before the tournament starts next week."

Community opens the Bedford County Tournament against Liberty on Thursday night at 7:45.

MTC 63, Community 15 (G): The Viqueens (4-11) scored the first two points of the game for an early lead, then got knocked back on their heels. The Lady Cougars went on a 32-point run thanks in part to a tenacious full-court press that the injury-depleted home team was unable to solve.

The 30-point lead seemed only to fuel a feeding frenzy as the Lady Cougars continued to employ the press throughout the second quarter. MTC's starters were still in the game against Viqueen ballhandlers who were simply too inexperienced to be a threat to them offensively.

The visitors took a 40-4 lead into intermission.

The third period began with the visitors trotting their first team out again to post a 57-7 advantage going into the fourth quarter.

Kristen Brothers, Courtney Williams, Shelby Harmon and Jamie Freeman scored a bucket apiece in the final quarter and that apparently was enough to alarm the MTC coaching staff into returning their starters to the game for a good portion of the quarter to stem the uprising.

Community begins Bedford County Tournament play on Thursday night at 6:30 versus No. 2 seed Liberty. The games will be played at Cascade.