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Bessemer City falters down stretchJackets fail to score for nearly six minutes in fourth quarterBy Phillip GardnerGazette Sports ReporterBESSEMER CITY — A disastrous fourth quarter led to an early exit from the playoffs for Bessemer City.Chatham Central held the Yellow Jackets scoreless for nearly six minutes in the final period to rally for a 66-59 victory in the opening round of the 1A state playoffs Tuesday night at Bessemer City.“The guys lost focus and, honestly, started playing tentatively, which that’s not basketball,” Bessemer City coach Chris Calhoun said. “Whether you have a motion offense that dictates the flow of the ball-game or not, you still have tolook for opportunities to score.”Bessemer City (10-17) went up 55-49 on a jumper by Chris Edwards with exactly six minutes to go in the game. The Yellow Jackets went cold after that, however, as the Bears (15-11) went on a 15-0 run over the next 5:43 to build a 64-55 advantage. During the decisive stretch, Bessemer City turned the ball over five times and went 0-for-5 from the floor. The Yellow Jackets didn’t score again until Marcus Barnette hit a jumper with only 16.5 seconds remaining.“For whatever reason, we don’t play defense until the last few minutes,” Chatham Central coach Bill Slaughtersaid, “I don’t know what it is — young kids, I guess. We start three sophomores and two juniors and maybe that’s part of it.”ChathaniMCentral 6-foot-6sophomore^ forward Jason Thompson led all scorers with 28 points and pulled down 11 rebounds. Marton Dowdy added 13 and Scott Kidd scored 11 for the Bears, who are making their first playoff appearance since 1998.Bessemer City’s Chris Edwards needed 23 points to reach 1,000 for his career but came up short with 16 in his final high school game. Barnette led the Yellow Jackets with 17, and Lewico Sanders added 11.“It was very, very, veryphysical tonight,” Calhoun said. “That’s not our style of play. We’re used to getting some calls in the paint and our guys go get those garbage baskets. We didn’t get those calls, and on our second- and third-chance efforts we got a lot of body contact and a lot of nocalls.”Chatham Central next travels to face Hendersonville, which received a first-round bye after taking the Southern Foothills lA’s second seed.CC 13 21 13 19 — 66 BC 13 15 23 8 — 59 CC — Kidd 11, Dowdy 13, Smith 2, McBloom 5, Thompson 28, Paschal 4, Brim 3. BC — Edwards 16, Barnette 17, Sanders 11, Albright 3, Clinton 3, MeClish 5, Wade 1, Phillips 3.
Newspaper Details
The Gaston Gazette
Gastonia, North Carolina, US
Wed, Feb 27, 2002
Page 9
Full Page
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NC, USA 18 Aug 2020
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