By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director
CENTRE – Exactly one month ago, the Piedmont Bulldogs outlasted the Cherokee County Warriors in a triple-overtime classic by a basket.
In that game, Warrior senior forward Jayquan Diamond scored nine points.
Cherokee County head coach Caleb Hays said Diamond felt he let the Warriors down following that nail-biting defeat and was looking for redemption on Monday night at Richard Lindsey Arena on the Gadsden State-Cherokee campus in Centre.
Diamond shined bright for the Warriors. He delivered a game-high 20 points, including eight in the fourth quarter, to lift Cherokee County to a 60-50 victory.
“My teammates trust in me and I’m glad they do,” Diamond said. “When they put the ball in my hands down the stretch, I’m going to try to score and come through for my team. We got the lead and we didn’t want to lose it. We just kept playing hard, kept playing good defense and scoring.”
Hays said Diamond “put a lot of pressure on himself for this game.”
“He’s been counting down the days to this one for a while,” Hays said. “He knows that we wouldn’t have been in that game without him, but he kind of challenged himself tonight. We’ve been challenging him for the past week or so to be that alpha guy in the paint. He really took that challenge and hit some good match-ups. He didn’t want to just settle for shots that we didn’t necessarily want to take.”
Diamond wasn’t the only difference maker for the Warriors (6-13). Tatum Perry posted 19 points, including a pair of 3-pointers. Keyshawn Woods came away with 11 points. Nolan Neyman finished with six points.
Diamond, Owen Jacoway, and Darwinn Ross also delivered for the Warriors under the boards.
“We told Jayquan, Owen and Darwinn we needed them to be extremely physical in the paint tonight and needed them to finish around the rim,” Hays said. “Our guys did a good job of penetrating and getting some help off where they could find him (Diamond). Having a bigger court obviously helps because it gave him some opportunities to get some space that he might not always get. His speed and athleticism helped him get to the rim and do a good job.”
Class 3A, No. 7 Piedmont (10-5) was missing one of its paint producers Monday night in senior forward Taylon Swain. Swain is currently recovering from surgery for appendicitis.
Minus the 6-foot-2 Swain’s presence on the inside, Monday night, the Bulldogs were led by Rollie Pinto’s 15 points. Nick Glover connected on three 3-pointers and had 13 points. Mason Morrow and Ethan Tidwell both tallied eight points. Ben Dempsey delivered six points. Morrow and Dempsey both managed a pair of treys.
Cherokee County held a 14-10 advantage at the end of the first quarter and built a 35-23 edge at halftime. The Warriors led 46-38 at the end of the third quarter before Piedmont began making a run.
The Bulldogs cut their deficit to four at 54-50 on a 3-pointer by Pinto with 3:37 remaining, but Diamond muscled his way for a pair of crucial baskets down the stretch to keep Piedmont from getting any closer.
“They cut it, but we never did lose control of it. I thought that was important,” Hays said. “The last time we played them, we would take control and then we would lose it. They would take control, and it just kept going back and forth. Once we got it (the lead on Monday), the halftime speech was we can either separate and maintain or we can let them come back.
“We knew they were going to start hitting shots. They didn’t shoot the ball well the first half. I know Rollie hit some big shots, and he kind of held them in there in the first half, getting to the free-throw line, getting downhill and hitting some shots. They had four or five different guys who were hitting big shots that kept climbing them back in it, but I told our guys we don’t need to settle for bad shots. We need to make sure we keep separating. If they hit a shot, we’ve got to come back and answer.”
Piedmont travels to Ohatchee on Tuesday, while the Warriors prepare for the Cherokee County Tournament. They open tournament on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. against Gaylesville. The Cherokee County-Gaylesville winner takes on top-seeded Sand Rock on Friday at 5 p.m. in the tournament semifinals.
The county tournament is another challenge Diamond is looking forward to accepting.
“I’m very excited for the county tournament,” he said. “A lot of people don’t think we’re good, but we want to go and show them.”
