Patriots defeat Grace
Friday, March 5th, 2010Article by: Stephen Hargis / Chattanooga Times Free Press
(Photo by Matt Fields-Johnson)
Of all the statistics that added up to Arts and Sciences' 73-65 Region 3-A boys' basketball championship victory over Grace Academy on Thursday, the numbers that may have been most responsible were 865 East Third.
That's the street address for CSAS, and the home-court advantage helped earn the Patriots their first region title and the right to host a sectional game Monday against Red Boiling Springs. Grace will visit Friendship, which beat Red Boiling Springs 53-48 in the Region 4 final.
In a game that featured eight lead changes and four ties in the second half, CSAS finally took control in the final three minutes. Sharif Cobb's three-point play broke a tie with 2:54 remaining and started a 9-0 run in which he scored six points.
"Our team needed a run at that point, and I was just trying to get us going somehow," said Cobb, who finished with 19 points. "It feels great, especially to be a part of the team that finally won the region here."
It was the Patriots' third victory over Grace in four meetings this season and completed a region sweep for CSAS. The Lady Patriots claimed the girls' title Wednesday.
CSAS had lost all five previous boys' region title games in program history. But despite having just one senior, the Patriots (25-7) were much more composed down the stretch and held Grace without a field goal for 3:22, before Brandon Herman's 3-pointer with 17 seconds remaining.
"We had a lot of young guys step up and play key roles, both scoring and defensively," CSAS coach Mark Dragoo said. "We've played such a tough schedule this year, against several teams still alive in higher classifications, and I think that really paid off."
The Patriots led for more than seven minutes of the second quarter and the first 2:07 of the second half, by as much as seven, before Grace rallied to take a short-lived lead. Herman scored a game-high 31 points but was hounded by CSAS defenders and turned the ball over three times during the Patriots' game-winning run.
"Their will was just stronger than ours tonight," Grace coach Jon Mattheiss said. "They got all the extra loose balls they needed for second chances, and it paid off tonight.
"We have never hosted a district or region tournament because of the size of our gym, but I would love to do something about that. It's very tough to come in to another team's gym and win one of these. We learned that for years at (Tennessee) Temple, and now it's the same scenario here."
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