BEAR CREEK — The Bears couldn’t defend their home court from the stampede in the Mid-Carolina 1A/2A conference boys’ and girls’ basketball openers Friday.
After taking control in the first half, Chatham Central’s boys squandered a 33-23 halftime lead over Southeast Alamance and lost 73-60.
The Bears were outscored 29-13 in the third quarter thanks to Southeast Alamance junior guard Bubba Sims scoring 10 of his 19 points and senior guard Brandon McAdoo hitting two huge threes, including a triple that tied the game at 41 midway through the quarter. A bucket from freshman Donnie Fairley shortly after gave the Stallions the lead, and they rode that momentum through the final buzzer.
“Getting back in transition, getting back when they’re pushing the ball up the floor and all rebounding,” Chatham Central coach Robert Burke emphasized as reasons for the loss. “They were quicker off the jump, off the toe, and I think that got us out of sync.”
Chatham Central actually got off to a hot start, taking a 22-9 lead early in the second quarter. Senior forward Brennen Oldham, senior guard Reid Albright and senior forward Aiden Johnson combined for 26 points in the first half while Southeast Alamance struggled to hit shots in the first two quarters (29%).
However, the Stallions stormed out of the break with more aggressiveness on both sides of the ball, especially junior guard Davian Edwards who helped flip the script with his driving ability and a 10-point fourth quarter. Edwards continuously attacked the basket and took nine free throw attempts (made eight) in the second half which was the most by any Southeast Alamance player. Sims took another six attempts at the line (all in the second half), and senior forward Khaleb Satterfield took a team-high 13 free-throw attempts throughout the game.
Due to the high number of fouls, Chatham Central eventually had to sit Oldham for some time after he picked up his fourth foul with just over a minute left in the third quarter. Outside of Albright, who finished the game with a team-high 20 points, Oldham was the most reliable contributor with 16 points.
“We got in foul trouble because we didn’t play good defense, and we didn’t cover what we needed to” Burke said.
Said Oldham, “We need to move our feet more so we can stay in front instead of getting the cheap fouls. That put us in trouble, too. Me and Reid had four. You’ve got to sit us at least a play or two, and that breaks our momentum, especially after I picked up my fourth one which took another big out the paint.”
The Bears hung within striking distance in the fourth quarter despite losing complete control of the game, but a poor three-point shooting performance, especially at the end of the night came around to haunt them. Chatham Central shot just 14% from three in the second half, and Albright went 0-3 from beyond the arc in the fourth quarter.
After the game, Burke, Oldham and Albright pointed to the team’s conditioning for the second-half shooting woes and defensive lapses.
“I think a lot of it was we played two back-to-back games,” Burke said. “Thursday night was a tough match.”
Said Oldham, “A lot of us were gassed, so we do need to get back in shape.”
On top of conditioning, the Bears will need more production from its backcourt outside of Albright. Senior Luke Gaines and junior Jeremiah Young were key contributors to the Bears’ offense last season, and Friday night’s loss showed they’ll need to take and hit more shots in order to beat tough teams.
Burke knows the team hasn’t hit shots like it should yet, but he’s confident they’ll start to fall as the season continues.
“You can tell everybody’s a little upset about it,” Oldham said. “I think it’s going to light a fire underneath us to go back, play them again, do what we got to do and finish the job.”
As for Chatham Central’s girls’ basketball team, the 73-18 loss to Southeast Alamance was disastrous from start to finish.
Southeast Alamance had three scorers in double figures as junior guard Shaniya Paylor led the team with 19 points, freshman guard Rreanna Johnson poured in 18 and junior guard Inysia McIver scored 11.
The Stallions imposed a smothering defensive presence over the Bears all night, coming away with 23 steals and allowing just four first half points. Many of those steals led to easy layups in transition, whereas just getting a shot off wasn’t easy for Chatham Central which only took 22 shot attempts.