- Photo by Carey Phillips
Smoky Mountain's Michael Ritchie drives past a Pisgah defender in SM's 61-57 loss Friday. |
Smoky Mountain became Pisgah's first Western Athletic Conference victim of the basketball season with a 61-57 victory Friday at the SM gym.
Andy Long scored 16 points for the Bears, and D.J. Fretwell had 15. Michael Wheatley led the Mustangs (6-10, 2-5) with 16 points. Justin Roper and Anthony Dyer both added 12. "Our effort was much better," Coach Scott Hartbarger said. "We played our zone defense really well the first half. We had some breakdowns on defense at the end of the game and allowed some easy baskets. We've just got to stay in there and fight." The game was close all the way with neither team ahead by more than six points. The fourth quarter had six lead changes and two ties. The Mustangs' last lead was 49-48 on a Jason Bennett free throw with 3:14 remaining. The Bears never trailed after Long's follow shot made it 50-49 at the 2:21 mark. Two free throws by Phillip Wade evened the count 52-52 with 1:50 on the clock. Fretwell scored at 1:39 and 1:07 as Pisgah went ahead for good. A dunk by Alan Gibson with 31 seconds remaining made it 58-52. More on SMHS Men's Basketball . . . |
Kaitlin Ritchie, Elexis Smith