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West Henderson nips SM on late basket by Corliss
Zach Corliss hit a shot in the lane with four seconds left giving West Henderson a 56-55 victory over Smoky Mountain on Jan. 15 at the SM gym.
Center Sam Smithson dominated inside in the first half when he scored 17 of his 22 points as the Falcons broke a tie for first place in the Western Athletic Conference men’s basketball standings. Corliss finished with 17 points, and Vinny Smith had 11.
Dillon Dunford led the Mustangs with 18 points.
“We had an opportunity,” Coach Jimmy Cleaveland said. “I was extremely proud of that. We played hard but not always smart. We had some empty possessions and missed some chances from the free throw line. We’ve come a long way, but we’ve just got to finish.”
The Mustangs were in the game until the end despite committing 21 turnovers and going nearly seven minutes without a field goal in the second half.
The fourth quarter was as tight as it could possibly be with neither team ahead by more than one point. There were nine lead changes and a tie in the period.
A basket by Corliss gave the Falcons their first lead since the opening quarter, 47-46, with 5:12 on the clock.
Dunford’s driving shot ended SM’s field goal drought at the 4:34 mark and put his team up 48-47.
The game continued to swing back and forth. Dunford hit two free throws with 13.1 seconds left for a 55-54 edge.
West called time out to set up what proved to be the game-winning play.
The Mustangs had to go the length of the court following a time out with 3.7 seconds remaining, but they were unable to get off a shot.
SM held a 44-37 advantage after Martin Davis’ free throw with 1:44 to play in the third stanza.
The Falcons closed the quarter on an 8-1 spurt, and Corliss beat the buzzer with a three-pointer narrowing the gap to 46-45.
West opened the game hot as Smith hit a three-pointer and converted a three-point play in the opening minute for a 6-2 edge.
The Mustangs’ lone lead of the period was 10-8 on McCormick’s inside basket at the 3:26 mark.
The teams were tied 12-12 at the quarter break.
A three-pointer by Davis followed by Dunford’s fast break layup put SM up 23-18 with 4:15 left in the half. The margin was 35-27 after Dunford’s three-pointer at the 1:16 mark, and the Mustangs led 35-30 at intermission.
“We did a lot of good things on the defensive end and on the boards,” Cleaveland said. “Our help side defense (on Smithson) was a lot better in the second half.”
He singled out McCormick, who had nine rebounds, for his work on the boards. Grant Schallock and Josh Jones were cited for their interior defense.
Davis came up with three steals while McCormick and Colton Hunt both had three assists.
Dunford hit six field goals, including a three-pointer, and five foul shots.
Davis and Jones both finished with eight points, McCormick followed with seven, Schallock and Hunt both scored six, and C.J. Fortner had two.
Jeremy Cauley’s basket with two seconds left gave the Mustang JVs a 42-40 win. Jacob George had 12 points.
SM led at quarter breaks by scores of 9-8, 23-17 and 32-26.
“The guys did a great job holding their composure at the end and didn’t panic,” Coach Adam Phillips said. “We did a pretty good job on the boards.”
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