CEDAR BLUFF – Sand Rock sophomore guard Jacob St. Clair could tell at the Wildcats’ Tuesday shoot around it was going to be a good night.
St. Clair’s intuition proved correct. He connected on seven 3-pointers – all in the first half – of the Wildcats’ 63-25 victory at Cedar Bluff on Tuesday.
“We just shoot during fourth block, shoot on the gun, do a lot of drills to get ready for the game. I had been hitting all day. I knew it was going to be a good night,” St. Clair said. “I feel like that’s my best game of the season so far.”
Sand Rock head coach John Blackwell said it might have been St. Clair’s best shooting performance since he came up to the varsity team.
“I told them all at halftime ‘The rest of y’all keep shooting. They’re going to go in. Even Jacob missed one the first half.’ He said ‘No Coach, I missed two.’ I said ‘Well, you can’t shoot any more in the second half if you missed two,’” Blackwell joked. “He needed to get on track.”
Speaking of getting on track, the Wildcats (6-3) were a little sluggish to begin the game. That might have had something to do with Sand Rock playing its fifth game in six days. They finished runner-up in a tournament in Biloxi, Mississippi on Saturday, then after the long drive back to Alabama, played at Gaston on Monday night.
“We were a little bit heavy footed, but we changed offenses, changed personnel, a couple of people, and they kind of got in a rhythm,” Blackwell said.
That rhythm had a lot to do with St. Clair. He sank three of this treys in the first quarter, which sparked Sand Rock out to a 15-8 advantage.
He opened and closed the second-quarter scoring for the Wildcats with 3-pointers, pushing Sand Rock’s lead to 42-12 at halftime.
St. Clair wasn’t the only Wildcat lighting things up from the outside. Cade Ballenger connected on three treys and finished with 11 points. Garyn Sharpe had 10 points, including two second-half 3-pointers.
For the game, the Wildcats sank 12 3-pointers.
Anbre Leek led Cedar Bluff with 10 points, including three treys. Bucky Leek had six points and Eli McFry finished with five points.
Cedar Bluff hosts West End on Thursday. Sand Rock hosts Chattooga, Ga., on Saturday.
