Blanchard, Cherokee County bounce Saks in Class 4A boys semifinal
JACKSONVILLE — The night before he led his team to a 64-45 win over Saks in the Class 4A Northeast Regional semifinals Thursday afternoon, Cherokee County guard Coty Blanchard said he read on an Internet message board that his team had no chance of winning a game at Pete Mathews Coliseum. It was the same kind of doubt and underestimation the Warriors have been hearing all year from critics. It started in their hometown, according to coach Shane Reid. "This team has a chip on its shoulder," said Reid, in his second year at the helm. "Even in Centre, people have been saying stuff like, 'They went to the Final Four two years ago and lost a lot of players off of that team and last year they lost in the sub-regionals so there's no way they'll be any good this year' or they're too small or whatever. These kids have fed off of that."
Thursday, the Warriors (23-10) feasted on a heaping helping of timely shooting from Blanchard, who was playing in the Pete for the first time in his career. He led all scorers with 18 points. "It's a great feeling," the sophomore said. "I've been dreaming of playing at Jax State my whole life. I was nervous the whole game, but I tried not to let it show." Blanchard showed no signs of the jitters during a 29-second stretch of the third quarter when he knocked down a pair of 3s that thwarted the Wildcats' most spirited attempt at a comeback. He finished shooting 7 of 13 for the game, 3 of 4 from behind the 3-point arc. After Saks's Antwone Glenn sank a jump shot to pull the Wildcats (21-9) to within five with a little more than three minutes to play in the third. Blanchard then swished a trey to put the Warriors up eight with 2:20 left in the quarter. He turned around and hit another one on the next trip down the floor to give Cherokee County a double-digit lead at 44-33 with 1:51 left. "Coty has a way of doing things like that," Reid said. "I had just sent somebody to the scorer's table to get him. I'll get on him for poor shot selection and then he'll hit two like that. To be a sophomore, he plays like a senior. If there was a nail in the coffin in the third quarter, those two shots were it." Chai Cowser scored 14 and Keddrick Barrett added a dozen for Cherokee County. The Warriors will face Guntersville on Saturday at 2 p.m. in the regional final. Guntersville defeated Tarrant 63-58 in the other semifinal Thursday night. Reid said he began to get a grasp of his team's potential when it defeated Class 5A regional finalist and perennial power Jess Lanier 81-79 in overtime in the semifinals of the WQSB Holiday Classic at Snead State Community College in late December. Blanchard poured in 27 points, including six 3-pointers and the game-winner in a triple team with less than 10 seconds remaining, in that game. "That was a turning point to realize how good we could be," Reid said. "Them being in the Elite 8 in Class 5A proves that." Saks trailed by just seven at 34-27 at halftime but Glenn, the Wildcats leading scorer, went to the bench 33 seconds into the third quarter after picking up his third foul on a charge. "When Antwone went out, that shook us a little bit," said Saks coach Jonathon Miller. "But 3-for-15 shooting from the 3-point line, that's what that did it to us. We also missed some shots in the lane." Glenn finished with 14 points and 14 rebounds. Arnold Kirksey sparked Wildcats in the early going, scoring seven of his 11 in the first quarter. Andre Richardson scored 10 points and pulled down eight rebounds in the loss. |
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