Defense wins the day for Senators against Cleveland State

MORRISTOWN, Tenn. — On a night when its offense wasn't clicking, Walters State turned up the defense to produce a victory.

Coach Bill Carlyle's Senators pulled away in the final three minutes Wednesday night at 'Z' Buda Gymnasium to drop Cleveland State, 59-45.

The Senators played mostly zone and held the Cougars to 27.4 percent shooting in racking up their eighth win against four losses. They are now 3-2 in Tennessee Community College Athletic Association play.

Cleveland State hit only 17-of-62 from the floor and made just 10 percent of its three-point tries (3-of-32) in falling to 5-5 overall and 2-2 in league play.

Demarius Boyd tossed in 17 to lead Walters State with Kobe Powell adding 14. Sly Thompson had 10 for the Senators, who also struggled to convert shots.

The Senators made just 26 of 56 for 42.9 percent and hit only one three in five attempts. They were but 10 of 19 from the free throw line.

Jaquez Hicks had a double-double to lead the Cougars with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Kerry Pratt added 10 points and Jadakiss Williams grabbed 11 rebounds. The Cougars had a 38-36 rebounding margin. Anthony Jones pulled down a dozen for the winners.

Carlyle said, "For us to not score any more points than that and win is hard to believe. We made more errors than any two teams ought to make. We have to be better than that.

"We didn't have (Luiz) Machado and that hurt us offensively, but Cleveland played really good defense tonight," he continued. "I thought we also did a really good job in our zone."

The coach said, "I never thought we could hold them that low in scoring, but I never thought we'd be held that low either. So it was good defense and not much offense either way.

"We finally did score some at the end when we took the ball to the basket. But we didn't make any shots when they fouled us. We must be the world's worse at free throw shooting. I don't know how many we missed but it's unreal.

"But any conference win is a big win and a good win for us," he closed.

The Senators' lead was trimmed to five when Hicks scored on a dunk with 4:43 left in the game. Walters State reeled off the next nine points to win it going away.

Paris Taylor grabbed a missed shot and put it back in to start the spurt with 3:01 on the clock. Boyd drove for a layup and Powell scored on a fast break. Powell came up with a steal and scored again before Thompson hit a free throw to make it 55-41 with 54.5 to play.

Pratt got the first points for the Cougars in four minutes, but Boyd had another driving basket and Powell finished the scoring for the Senators with a pair of charity tosses.

The first half was a lesson in futility offensively for both teams as they combined for just 45 points, with Cleveland scoring the final three points of the period to lead 24-21.

A three by Demonte Person and a bucket by Williams inside upped the Cougars' lead to 29-22 early in the second half. But Walters State held the visitors without a field goal for almost six minutes in taking the lead for good.

Jones had two buckets and Boyd and Powell also scored for a 30-29 lead. After Pratt hit two of three free throws to put the Cougars back on top Powell drove for a pair of baskets and Thompson hit a free throw. The winners also missed three charity tosses in the same stretch.

Cleveland's Jackobey Hitchens hit two foul shots to get Cleveland within 37-35 with 11:09 left. However, Thompson hit a short jumper, Taylor added a free throw and Boyd grabbed a rebound and put it back in and the Senators led by seven.

Pratt hit a three and a free throw and Hicks' dunk got it down to five before the Senators' big finish.

NEXT UP

The Senators hit the road to take on TCCAA rival Volunteer State Saturday. Tip-off is s