By Loyd McIntosh,
For The Tribune
PELL CITY — The Clay-Chalkville boys basketball team nearly dug its way out of a deep hole, but fell short in a gritty comeback effort to Pell City on Thursday, 55-51.
The Cougars came into the non-region matchup with a record of 3-5 hoping to put the brakes on a five-game skid dating back to a Nov. 17 loss to Oak Mountain.
On the other end of the floor was a Pell City Panther squad (6-2) that has won six of its last seven after opening the season with a 15-point loss in Clay to the Cougars, 62-47.
The rematch on the shores of Logan Martin Lake went to the Panthers, who dominated the first half and held off a surging Cougars squad that had several opportunities to claim victory, but just couldn’t seem to get the right bounces and rolls of the ball to put the game away for good.
The Cougar shooters started out hot, capitalizing on Pell City turnovers and hauling down defensive rebounds, jumping out to a 10-6 lead midway into the first quarter.
Then the lid slammed shut on the Cougar basket.
Pell City center Michael Snow took control of the pain, leading the Panthers on a 9-0 run to finish the first quarter with a 15-10 lead. In the meantime, Clay-Chalkville’s shooters couldn’t buy a hoop as every three-point attempt missed the mark, and attempts to force the ball inside failed to gain traction.
The Cougars went on an eight-plus minute drought without scoring until sophomore Devon McKinnon slammed home an exciting dunk on a fast-break midway through the second quarter. For the remainder of the second quarter, Clay-Chalkville started to show signs of life on offense but tailed Pell City by nine points at halftime, 28-19.
Pell City came out rolling in the third quarter, led by the three-point shooting of Collin McCombs, pushing the lead to 14 points, 33-19.
Finally, the Cougar offense woke up as the Cougars sank four straight three-point attempts in the third quarter to close the gap to three points, 36-33, with just over four minutes left to play in the third quarter.
With just under one minute left in the third period, senior Tiawan Hardy Jr. hit a jumper in the lane to tie the game at 40-40. Barely a minute into the fourth quarter, sophomore Victor Odiari hit a short-range jump shot, giving the Cougars their first lead since the first quarter, 45-44.
Clay-Chalkville would go up by as much as three points as each team jockeyed for control of the final period. Toward the end of the fourth quarter, the Cougar shooters, once again, went cold, as they frantically tried to hang on to a slim lead.
In the end, turnovers and several missed free throws down the stretch were the difference as Pell City relied on its big man, Snow, to put the game out of reach, 55-51.
Clay-Chalkville Head Coach Chris Richardson said his Cougar squad had trouble at the free throw line for the last several games, a problem that may have cost them a victory Thursday night. He also said that the team needs to settle down and wait for the right shot rather than force difficult, low-percentage shots.
“It’s about the right shot, knowing what shot I want, and what shot is the best in the situation,” said Richardson. “We have guys that can knock it down, but sometimes we get a little shot happy. So we’ve got to make sure we get the right shot at the right time of the game.”
Clay-Chalkville falls to 3-6 with a handful of games left to play in December before area games begin in January. The Cougars will face some tough teams in the area such as Pinson Valley and Mortimer Jordan. However, Richardson believes the Cougars can build off of their performance against Pell City despite the loss.
“We’ve got to get ready for area play,” he said. “You can win or lose all these games and they mean nothing if you can’t win in area play. We’ll film this game up, we’ll get back to practice and get ready for next week.”
McKinnon led the Cougars with 14 points followed by junior Kevin Kirk with 11 points. Clay-Chalkville will host Etowah High School Dec. 13.