The Gilmer High Bobcats ended their four-game losing streak on the basketball court last week.
Gilmer hosted region opponents North Hall Friday and Lumpkin County the following day. The NHS Trojans were able to hold on for a 55-45 win after building a formidable 17-point lead at the half.
GHS played better in all phases of the game versus the Lumpkin Indians and came away with a 59-55 victory.
Gilmer head coach Jordan Hice discussed Friday’s loss to North Hall, which saw the Bobcats trail 18-4 after a quarter.
“Nothing was falling. They’re expecting shots to fall and they’re not, and anytime we’re struggling, we go into panic mode,” he said. “Then we start trying to rush things. I was burning timeouts just trying to get them to calm down, and after that point it was up to them.”
It took GHS four minutes to score its first point, and the Bobcats found themselves in a 13-2 hole. Gilmer had trouble deciphering the Trojans’ press as they bombed away from three-point land.
Gilmer’s woes extended into the second quarter, and they fell behind 32-8 with three minutes before the half. Over that final three-minute span, Gilmer scored 12 points.
NHS made nine three pointers in the game and hit seven through two quarters to build a 37-20 halftime advantage.
Gilmer began to chip away at North Hall’s lead in the third quarter. Cade Carter scored seven of his 12 points, and GHS started to find success from beyond the three-point arc.
Gilmer made four threes in the second half, and Brady Sanford accounted for three of them. GHS trailed 49-35 entering the fourth.
Gilmer drew within six points with 3:30 to play, but never got any closer. GHS made just five of 16 free throws in the second half and missed multiple open three-point attempts.
“The worst part about it, we were 37 percent from the free-throw line (9/24) on the night,” Hice said. “If you hit a few of those free throws and make a layup in the fourth quarter, we could’ve got it down to four points.
“They ended up getting an and one (a basket and foul). So instead of a four-point game, it’s back at nine points. We never really came back from that.”
Sanford led GHS with 18 points, Carter scored 12 and Ethan Banks was there for nine.
“The fight was good and we really never gave up. It was just such a slow start,” Hice said.
Gilmer did not wait to kick-start its offense the next day versus Lumpkin.
“We were under control and hit a bunch of outside shots,” Hice said. “Out of the 31 points in the half, 14 came from Brady and 14 came from Cade. They were trying to play Cade one on one, and he was just scoring over the place.”
Lumpkin drained eight threes on the day, and five hit the bottom of the net in the first quarter as they pulled ahead, 19-12. Those Indian deep shots stopped falling in the second quarter where Carter was there for 10 of his team-high 26 points.
Sanford hit two more three pointers after making two in the first quarter, and Britt Taylor added another. The Bobcats led 31-23 at halftime.
Sanford was injured in the third quarter and left the game. Braden Jenkins and Banks picked up the slack to score all of their points in the second half, which totaled nine and five, respectively.
Carter continued to be a force down low and scored 12 more over the game’s final 16 minutes. GHS saw its lead cut to 44-40 entering the fourth where points were traded evenly, and Gilmer was able to maintain its four-point edge for the win.
“It was a much better effort,” Hice said. “We started out strong and continued to play strong. We hit 80 percent (8/10) of free throws. All that factored to get the win.”
Gilmer began last week with an 80-36 nonregion loss to the Northwest Whitfield Bruins.
GHS has a 5-6 overall record and will host West Hall Friday at 7:30 p.m. and travel to Dawson County Saturday for a 2:30 p.m. tipoff.