By Erik Harris
CLAY – Round 2 of Clay-Chalkville against Center Point went much different than the original version.
After falling to their rivals on the road back in December, the eighth-ranked Cougars handled the Eagles 62-51 on Tuesday night to improve their Class 6A, Area 12 record to 3-1. The loss dropped Center Point to 2-1 in league play.
Clay-Chalkville senior point guard Hasan Abdullah was unrecognizable compared to the player who failed to score a point in the first meeting. The senior didn’t hesitate to fire shots from the opening tip to the final horn.
“I feel like we came out hungry, aggressive, but under control,” said Abdullah. “We played as a team together and we just went with coach’s game plan and executed.”
He shot well on six 3-pointers, four of which came in a first quarter that was dominated by the Cougars. Abdullah led all scorers with 30 points.
“I was just kind of unconscious,” Abdullah said. “When we played them at Center Point I only took like five shots so coach was telling me just to be a little more aggressive and don’t worry about the stage.”
The Eagles wouldn’t go quietly. Bryant Banard put a finish to the hot Center Point second quarter with a baseline 3-pointer to pull the visitors to within four at the break.
Banard and the Eagles kept things close for the early half of the third frame, but an offensive flurry from the good guys was too much to handle.
Edward Leggett found his favorite spot on the baseline and turned it into six quick points before Abdullah assisted Sean Burrell on a transition lay-in, which gave his team a double-digit lead that only grew from there.