The Bobcats earned a pair of region wins over the Heritage Generals.
GHS began the final week of the regular season last Tuesday at home, and Heritage did not have any answer for Gilmer’s quickness and athleticism. The Bobcats beat HHS off the dribble all night when they were not scoring in transition for a 64-40 victory.
Bobcat junior Keegen Bryant surpassed 1,000 career points in the process.
The Cats traveled to Heritage Saturday and dealt the Generals another loss. While HHS shot markedly better, the Generals still could not keep pace with the Bobcats who won, 72-66.
A day prior, the Cats were at Northwest Whitfield. GHS was in control of the game for the first half, but the third quarter belonged to the Bruins. NHS tripled Gilmer’s points for a 10-point lead and held on to win, 74-64.
Senior Bobcat J.D. Taylor joined the 1,000 point club with Bryant.
GHS buried the Generals in a 20-point hole by halftime of their first matchup, and there was no coming back in the second half.
“We moved the ball a lot better than we have been,” said head coach Jordan Hice. “We didn’t force shots or take shots early, and we let our offense develop. A lot of times we’ll play and kind of go with the first option. We were shifting to one side of the floor to the other and making those extra passes, which left us even more open than we normally get.
“The defense was a lot better. We’ve been talking about help-side defense and rotations and making sure we’re not denying passes all of the time and getting beat on straight line drives to the basket.”
HHS made a paltry 28 percent of its attempts, while GHS shot 42 percent from the field. Most of Gilmer’s points (42) came in the paint, and the Cats owned a 47-24 rebounding advantage.
Taylor, Bryant and Cooper Farmer gave GHS an 11-3 edge to start the game, which set the tone for the night. HHS had no answer for Bryant and Taylor, and Gilmer led 19-7 after a quarter.
GHS continued to push the ball in the second and opened a 26-10 lead. Mack Kiser found some success in the post to take the scoring onus off Bryant and Taylor. Gilmer closed out the half with a 10-2 run for a 38-18 lead at the half.
Taylor, Bryant and Farmer continued to attack the basket in the third as Gilmer’s lead swelled to 49-23. HHS finally got shots to fall toward the end of the quarter to cut Gilmer’s lead to 55-32.
Starters were out of the game by the midpoint of the fourth when Gilmer’s advantage stood at 59-36.
GHS scoring: Taylor (21), Bryant (14), Kiser (seven), Farmer (six), Boston Teague (five), Preston McVey (four), Douglas Callihan and Riley Davis (two) and Mason West (one).
Bryant led the way with eight rebounds and five assists. Both Taylor and Kiser had six boards and Blane Banks grabbed five.
Taylor (23 points) and Bryant (21) continued to be a thorn in the Generals’ side Saturday. Teague was there for 17 points, which included a 9/10 effort from the free-throw line.
“We came out really hot and went on a 12-0 run,” Hice said. “They hit some threes that kind of got them back in the game. We had a slow second quarter but came back out in the third and kind of got it together. We were patient on offense and got some stops on defense. The big factor was we hit a lot of free throws (19/25) and shot a bunch of them (8/12) in the fourth quarter.
“Most of our game was attacking the rim and getting to the free-throw line. It’s just a big part of what we do.”
GHS scored 38 points in the paint this time around. Heritage upped its shooting percentage to 43 percent and found some success from three point territory (10/16).
Gilmer led by five after the first and HHS pulled ahead at the half, 31-27. The Cats lit up the scoreboard in the third quarter. They made 10/15 shots from the field with a 5/6 performance from the line.
The Cats led 54-51 to start the fourth. They kept attacking the basket for close-range points and drew fouls to make HHS pay from the line. The six-point win improved Gilmer’s region record to 5-7 for the season.
Kiser and Jaden Sevcech each scored four points, McVey added two and Banks had one. Teague was the top rebounder with 13 and Bryant finished with five assists.
Points came early and often versus Northwest. Gilmer opened a 21-19 edge after a quarter and led 37-29 at the half. However, GHS was outscored 27-9 in the third quarter and fell behind, 56-46.
“The third quarter got us,” said Hice. “We couldn’t find anything offensively, and they were hitting threes like crazy. We were focusing on keeping them away from the rim. They didn’t hit any threes the first time we played them. We forced them to shoot threes, and they got hot (and made 10 in the game).”
The teams traded points evenly in the fourth and NHS won by 10.
GHS statistics were not available by press deadline.
Gilmer finished with a 12-12 regular season record and secured the region’s No. 5 seed. The Cats face LaFayette today at Northwest Whitfield at 6 p.m. A Bobcat win will qualify them for the Class 3A state tournament.