By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director

CEDAR BLUFF – It’s been a little over a year since Sand Rock sophomore forward Will Cleere suffered a meniscus tear in his left knee. Since that time, Cleere has done everything he possibly could to return to the basketball court for the Wildcats.

So far this season, Cleere has taken small steps forward, but on Tuesday night at Class 2A, Area 13 rival Cedar Bluff, he had a coming out party.

Cleere rang for a career-high 35 points and grabbed 15 rebounds in leading the Wildcats to a 92-74 victory.

“I’ve never scored that high in a game before,” Cleere said. “Them feeding me the ball was wonderful. They had good passes, bounce passes. That was the key. Tonight we just played well.”

Not only was Tuesday night rewarding for Cleere, it was also rewarding for Wildcat head coach Nick Traffanstedt to see.

“He’s worked really, really hard,” Traffanstedt said. “He’s been in the gym seven days a week. He’s been doing that a whole year, and I told him it would pay off eventually if he just kept his head down and kept working. He’s struggled in the past few games because he didn’t get to play last year, but he did what I asked him to do and it paid off tonight. He got after it. He rebounded well. I was proud of him. He did good.”

Also aiding Cleere’s big game was the absence of Cedar Bluff senior inside presence Isaac Bishop. Bishop suffered a knee injury in the Tigers’ game against Lincoln back on Dec. 5.

“They took advantage of it,” Cedar Bluff coach Johnny Amison said. “Isaac was already having some knee problems, and in the Lincoln game, their guard drove down, tripped and fell. He rolled when he fell and went right into Issac’s leg. His knee buckled. That was in the second quarter of that game and he hasn’t played since. He got an MRI today, but they won’t tell us anything until Thursday or Friday.”

Sand Rock sophomore point guard Ty Traffanstedt and sophomore shooting guard Jonas Browder also had big nights for the Wildcats. Ty Traffanstedt netted 23 points with seven assists, four rebounds and three steals. Browder connected on five 3-pointers, including three in the fourth quarter, and finished with 17 points for the Wildcats (6-4, 2-0).

“Cedar Bluff did a good job of picking our personnel out and knowing who our shooters were, knowing where our penetrators were, but it’s hard to guard somebody and close them out 20-foot the whole game,” Coach Traffanstedt said. “Late in the game, I kept telling (Jonas) ‘You’re going to get that shot. We’re going to move the ball, swing it, and you’re going to get the shot.’ He did. He’s one of those guys who has the green light. When he’s open, I’m going to let him take that shot. He stepped it up and made them.”

Browder’s treys in the fourth quarter were daggers against the Tigers (3-6, 0-1).

Cedar Bluff trailed by a point heading into the final quarter, but Browder, along with Cleere and Ty Traffanstedt, made sure they would get no closer. The trio scored all but two of Sand Rock’s 25 points in the fourth quarter. Senior guard/forward Gatlin Cox began the quarter with the only other Wildcat basket.

“Three (Ty Traffanstedt), 15 (Cleere) and 12 (Browder) all had very good nights,” Amison said. “We’re not going to win many games giving up 90 points. We scored enough to win, but we can’t give up 90 points. We’ve got to get back on the drawing board on that stuff, work on that and come out and be better next time.”

Foul shooting beset the Tigers, especially early. They were 0-of-10 from the free-throw line in the first quarter, in which Sand Rock led 25-16. Cedar Bluff finally started making a few shots from the charity stripe in the second and third quarters, but they finished just 12-of-30 from the line for the game.

“It’s been better at times, but tonight it really bit us,” Amison said. “We missed several free throws in the first half. We started shooting them a little better, but we’ve got to make free throws. It doesn’t matter if it’s first quarter or fourth quarter. We’ve got to make free throws.”

Despite their free-throw shooting woes, Cedar Bluff trailed by a point at the break 44-43 and 67-66 after three quarters.

Freshman shooting guard Shon Gleen kept the Tigers close with his 33 points, including six 3-pointers, but Gleen also had to spend several crucial minutes on the bench in foul trouble.

“He’s young and makes a couple of mistakes here and there, but he can do some things other kids can’t do, especially at that age,” Amison said of Gleen. “When he really learns what he’s doing and brings the mental with the physical, he’s going to be tough. He’s got a bright future.”

Kuper Bradley connected on three treys and finished with 12 points for the Tigers. Kolwyn Morrison and Jonas Brown both finished with eight points.

Cam Gifford gained nine points, five steals, three assists and three rebounds for Sand Rock. Cox finished with six points, 10 boards and eight assists.

Sand Rock travels to Ragland on Thursday, while Cedar Bluff hosts Ohatchee.