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Smoky Mountain rallies for victory over Maroon Devils

By Carey Phillips
Smoky Mountain's Michael Wheatley - Herald Photo by Carey Phillips

Michael Wheatley takes the ball to the basket for Smoky Mountain in last week's loss at Andrews. The Mustangs are 4-2 overall and 1-0 in the Western Athletic Conference through games of Tuesday.

Smoky Mountain outscored Swain 22-9 in the third quarter of a come-from-behind 80-67 victory Friday at the SM gym.

Michael Wheatley erupted for 29 points, and Anthony Dyer scored 21 for the Mustangs (3-2).

Michael Seay paced the Maroon Devils with 15 points. Trey Burns, Steven Cook and Chris Muse all had 12.

"The second half was probably the best basketball we've played this year," Coach Scott Hartbarger said. "We challenged our kids at halftime to pick up their effort, and they responded."

SM trailed by 12 in the first half but battled back for a 39-39 tie on Wheatley's 17-footer with 5:40 to go in the third stanza. Dyer hit from 19 feet at the 3:57 mark giving the Mustangs a 44-42 edge, their first lead since 2-0.

Consecutive three-pointers from Wheatley, Dyer and Justin Roper built the lead to 53-43 with 1:03 on the clock. SM led 53-45 entering the fourth period.
The Maroon Devils never made a serious run the rest of the way. The closest they came was 68-61 on Michael Warner's layup with 3:02 remaining.

The Mustangs responded with eight straight points, the last four on free throws by Derrick Hawk, for an insurmountable 76-62 lead at the 1:11 mark. The Devils controlled play early and built a 15-6 lead on two foul shots by Cook with 57.2 seconds left in the first period. They were up 15-11 at the quarter break.

Swain's biggest lead was 33-21 on a fast break layup by Muse with 1:31 remaining in the half. A technical foul against Swain swung the momentum and helped SM score five points in the final 15 seconds. Jason Bennett had a follow shot, Wheatley hit one of two free throws on the technical and Wheatley had a layup on the ensuing possession cutting the gap to 36-31 at intermission. Hartbarger said the momentum swing from the technical along with changes made at halftime were keys to the win.

The changes included moving Wheatley to point and starting Darius Bryson and Sam Neff. "Justin had a hard time in the first half getting us in our offense," he explained. "We moved Michael to the point and put Darius on number 10 (Burns) and tried to wear him down. Sam has the potential to help us, and he did a good job off the bench."

Hartbarger said Wheatley would continue to play more out front although not in a true point guard roll. He said the move will give Wheatley the opportunity to drive and be creative but still allow him to come off screens and shoot three-pointers. While he was pleased with the second half overall, Hartbarger cautioned that the Mustangs need to play better defense.

Six of Wheatley's 10 field goals were three-pointers, and he hit three free throws. Dyer made eight field goals, including a three-pointer, and four foul shots. Bennett finished with seven points, Roper, Neff and Phillip Wade all netted five, Hawk scored four, Michael Ritchie had three and Cody Long hit a free throw.

Neff pulled down nine rebounds. The Mustang JVs are 3-2 after a 51-36 win. They led at quarter breaks by scores of 21-8, 35-16 and 46-23.

Brent Robinson scored 14 points for SM. Joe Smarr added 11, and Jake Day had 10.

"We played great defense and took care of the basketball," Coach Jim Hartbarger said.

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