The eighth-grade Clear Creek Middle School Bobcats capped their undefeated basketball season with a Mountain League championship.
CCMS hosted the White County Warriors last Friday for the title and led from start to finish. The Bobcats’ balanced attack was too much for the Warriors to contain as CCMS came away with a 57-45 victory.
“I’ve never had the opportunity to coach that many talented kids at one time. The whole team overall are athletic, they work hard, they listen and do what you tell them to do,” CCMS coach Chad Miller said.
“They’re a phenomenal group of players with great parents.”
Bobcats Talyn Curtis and Jackson McVey commanded the post on the night collecting rebounds and scoring from close range. They both tallied 14 points, while guards Haden West and J.D. Taylor were there for 11 and eight more, respectively.
The Cats garnered an 11-9 edge after a quarter, and its outside shot was working prior to halftime. West nailed three shots from three-point range and Taylor made another. The Cats extended their lead to 28-19 at halftime, and it continued to grow over the next quarter.
“We were slow getting into our game, and we let them keep us outside just pushing the ball around,” Miller said. “We got hot from the outside for a while with J.D. and Haden knocking down some threes.
“We had to get back to our game of working the ball inside. When we were able to start doing a little bit of both, we were able to start building a lead.”
CCMS got back to its game in the third. Curtis and McVey accounted for 14 of 16 points as CCMS doubled White’s offensive output.
By the time the fourth rolled around, the Bobcats held a commanding 44-27 advantage. Two points from Curtis extended Clear Creek’s lead to 51-32 with four minutes to play, and Miller started to enter reserve players into the game.
White was able to cut into the Cats’ lead but never got close enough to pose a threat.
Remaining CCMS points were scored by Keegen Bryant (five), Issac Rellinger and Blane Banks (two each) and Cooper Farmer (one). Curtis led the Bobcats with 14 rebounds, which included six on the offensive end.
A day earlier, Clear Creek faced the Union County Panthers. It was a rematch of last season’s title game, and this time the Bobcats won, 52-45.
Top scorers included Bobcats Curtis (18), McVey (11) and Taylor (10), and a strong second half helped propel CCMS to victory.
Union built a 24-19 halftime lead, but could not keep pace with CCMS in the second half. Farmer, Taylor, Curtis, McVey and Bryant all scored in the third to help Clear Creek pull ahead, 35-34.
The Bobcats took advantage of their chances in the fourth to earn the win. CCMS made 9/11 free-throw attempts, which included a 6/6 effort from Curtis to cement the win.
Clear Creek’s remaining points were scored by Bryant (seven), Farmer and Boston Teague (two apiece) and West (one). The Bobcats finished the season with a 14-0 record.