By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director
CENTRE – Last basketball season, the Cherokee County Warriors struggled to compete for an entire game.
They would have games where they would compete for a half, sometimes three quarters, but for whatever reason they couldn’t finish.
In their two contests prior to Friday night’s rivalry game against Piedmont, the Warriors have shown the ability to compete for four quarters, but they lost by two in the season-opener at Bremen, Ga., and by three on Thursday night to Oneonta.
They got over the hump on Friday night against Piedmont.
Eighth grade guard Tatum Perry sank five 3-pointers, including three in the fourth quarter. Senior guard Reid Jacoway connected on four treys and was 4-of-4 from the free-throw line in the final 32 seconds, lifting the Warriors to a 68-60 victory over the Bulldogs, handing them their first loss of the season.
Jacoway led Cherokee County (1-2) with 20 points. Perry posted 17 points.
“To be this early in the season and to be able to play at that level for four quarters, it really shows how much our guys are committed to it,” Cherokee County coach Caleb Hays said. “That’s exciting to me because that may be the most talented team we see on our schedule. They’re a very, very good group with athletes everywhere, great shooters, great guards, great posts. They’re a good ball team.”
The Warriors jumped out to to an 18-12 advantage in the first quarter, but Piedmont (4-1) battled back to take a 35-32 advantage into halftime. The Bulldogs maintained that three-point edge heading into the fourth quarter at 47-44 before Perry found his rhythm from the 3-point line.
“Tatum kind of found his rhythm in the Oneonta game in the second half (on Thursday). He had 11 points in the second half in that game,” Hays said. “He’s starting to get a little more confident. He’s an eighth grader, so he’s just coming up from middle school. This is his first experience with the varsity, but now he’s got all the confidence in the world. When he’s playing like that, he’s a great player.”
Perry’s third trey of the fourth quarter at the 3:47 mark gave the Warriors a 55-54 lead. Jacoway followed that up with a trey of his own 13 seconds later to push Cherokee County’s lead out to 58-54, but Piedmont fought back on Rollie Pinto’s basket and foul with 3:04 remaining, making it a one-point game.
Back-to-back baskets by Perry and Jayquan Diamond on the other end stretched the Warrior advantage out to five at 62-57, but then Pinto sank a trey with 46.3 seconds to go to make it a 62-60 game.
Another basket by Diamond put the Warriors up 64-60 with 42 seconds remaining, but then Jacoway sealed the game with four straight free throws for the final.
“Reid is our only senior this year and he showed a lot of maturity and leadership getting the ball and hitting his free throws down the stretch, hitting some big shots and taking care of the ball,” Hays said.
Diamond delivered 11 points for the Warriors. Ben Moseley finished with eight points.
Pinto led Piedmont with 21 points, followed by Colton Parker’s 20 points. Taylon Swain finished with 12 points, including a pair of 3-pointers.
Cherokee County travels to Cleburne County on Tuesday. Piedmont is at Westbrook Christian, also on Tuesday.
