By Shannon Fagan, WEIS Sports Director
CEDAR BLUFF – Cedar Bluff senior point guard Kuper Bradley said he’s been taking a lot of time lately working on his shots at practice. From his shooting form to mid-range jumpers to free throws, Bradley has been determined to fix his shots.
It’s really shown the past two games.
On Thursday night in a win over Sylvania, Bradley led the Tigers with 25 points, including four 3-pointers. He had an even better outing against Spring Garden on Friday.
Bradley tossed in a game-high 34 points, including six treys, with five of those in the second quarter in an 80-42 victory.
Bradley scored 26 of his points in the second quarter, which helped turn an 11-10 Tiger lead after one into a 48-21 edge at halftime.
“During warm ups, they (shots) felt good,” Bradley said. “I just kept on shooting and they kept on going in.”
“It was like he couldn’t miss,” Cedar Bluff coach Johnny Amison said. “He shot pretty well last night (against Sylvania) and it just carried on over to tonight. He shot it really well.”
Something else the Tigers (16-10) did well on Friday was shoot free throws. They connected on 13-of-14 shots from the charity stripe in the game.
“That might be a record for us,” Amison joked. “That’s very impressive. We’ve lost several games by missing free throws and layups. We’ve worked on that and worked on that, and I think it’s starting to pay off a little bit.”
Amison said he’s proud of how the Tigers have played since returning from Christmas break. Aside from spending a lot of time on the little things at practice, he said a big part of their success has been in the weight room.
“Normally in basketball you don’t really do it as much (as football),” Amison said. “They were sore last night (from the Sylvania game). Their legs looked a little dead, so we took ice baths today instead of doing a walk through. I think that helped them a little bit. They played with a lot of energy and a lot of fight tonight. I’m proud of how they responded.”
Shon Gleen rang for 18 points for the Tigers, including a pair of 3-pointers. Zach Jones tallied 10 points and Keondre Wynn finished with seven points.
Eli Bates led Spring Garden with 21 points, including five treys. Noah Carnes contributed 10 points.
