Redskin Varsity Basketball Team 2007-08

Loudon's balance foils Irish

Redskins in position for top seat in district

By Jesse Smithey ( Contact )
Wednesday, February 6, 2008

The Loudon High School boys' basketball team has one step left before it reaches a goal. But an overlooked reserve guard from Catholic nearly made the Redskins take two steps back. Four Loudon players scored in double figures Tuesday night, and the Redskins made just enough free throws when it mattered to clip host Catholic, 66-63, in a key district matchup. Loudon (16-7, 9-2 in 4-AA) is tied with Anderson County (21-4, 9-2) atop the district standings, but a road win Friday at Stone Memorial will give the Redskins a No. 1 seed in the district tournament. Catholic (16-7, 7-3) can make life easier on Loudon by defeating Anderson County on Friday. Loudon led Catholic on Tuesday by 14 points with 5 minutes, 43 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. But when 5-foot-7, 130-pound junior guard Eric Ponzurick unleashed thre first of his four 3s in the final quarter, the rally was on and Catholic had cut its deficit to seven points with 4:10 to go. "I didn't know where that came from," said Loudon guard Grant Gasper of Ponzurick's performance. "We weren't ready to hit the panic button. Just stay calm. Put a man on him and guard him. He's just another player." Ponzurick's trey with 46.3 seconds remaining trimmed the deficit to 63-58, and his 3 with 24 ticks left cut it to four. Sandwiched between the bombs were two Lamar Colvin free throws for Loudon. Colvin, who scored nine of his 11 points in the fourth quarter, made 5-of-6 at the foul line with under a minute remaining. His final make gave Loudon a 66-61 lead with 19.8 seconds remaining.

"I thought we had a bunch of guys contribute tonight," said Loudon first-year coach Colt Narramore. "We went deep into our bench. We went 11 deep. That's the first time we've done that in a while."

Catholic guard Ryan Walden put back a missed free throw with 4 seconds left to get Catholic to 66-63. Loudon turned the ball over, and Catholic found the hot hand in Ponzurick on the inbounds play. But he bobbled the pass, and it went out of bounds off Loudon. Catholic inbounded with 1.7 to go, and Michael Conaty's game-tying 3 from the wing was on target but hit front iron.

Gasper's 15 points and Drew Eller's 13 led Loudon. Each scored 10 in the first half, and Loudon led 37-28 at the break. The Redskins were 15-for-31 shooting in the first half. That dipped to 7-for-19 in the final 16 minutes, but Loudon connected on 14-of-22 free throws after the break to escape.

Post Daniel Hood led Catholic with four blocks and 17 points. But Loudon focused defensively on limiting Walden and Conaty. Walden finished with six points and Conaty got his 11 in the second half. The two were a combined 0-for-14 from behind the arc.

Loudon creates logjam in district
Redskins rebound against Anderson
By Dave Link
Wednesday, January 30, 2008

LOUDON - Crash the boards, pressure without fouling, and attack the opposing post players.

With those three keys in mind, the Loudon High School boys' basketball team climbed back into the District 4-AA race with a 67-56 victory over Anderson County on Tuesday night. "We had three keys tonight, and rebounding was right there at the top," Loudon coach Colt Narramore said. Anderson County (19-4, 8-2 in District 4-AA) is a half-game ahead of Loudon (13-8, 7-2) and Catholic (14-6, 7-2) in the district standings.

The district's top two seeds earn first-round byes in the district tournament and automatic region berths. "If we won this game, we knew we'd be in good shape to win out and get the No. 1 seed for the district tournament," Loudon senior guard Grant Gasper said. "We want first in the district." Gasper led the Redskins with 18 points, while senior wing Lamar Colvin had 12 and senior post Ben Everett 11. Anderson County was led by junior point guard Jordan Rorex with 17 points and junior wing Paul Longmire with 15. Rorex scored 11 in the last 3:35 as the Mavericks made their last run. Gasper, David Lee Haskins, and Ben Curtis split time guarding Rorex.

"You can't stop (Rorex)," Narramore said. "We were able to slow him down, and that gave us a huge advantage." The Mavericks played without 6-6 senior wing/post Michael White, who fractured his right wrist Jan. 22 on a dunk attempt against Scott. White is averaging about 15 points and seven rebounds. "Hopefully we'll get him back for the tournament," Anderson County coach Derek Wallace said. "Basketball's a tournament game. As much as I'd like to win them all, we want to be winning at the end."

Loudon never trailed Tuesday.

The Redskins led 15-11 late in the first quarter and went on a 14-2 run in the next 4 minutes, 22 seconds. Colvin's two free throws with 4:48 left in the half gave the Redskins a 29-13 lead. Colvin scored eight points in the second quarter as the Redskins took a 31-19 lead into halftime. "We did everything off the dribble early and weren't sharing the ball," Wallace said. "Later we got it into the paint and found our open shooters. We did a great job at the end, but it was too little, too late." Loudon matched its biggest lead of 16 points with 2:45 left in the third quarter and took a nine-point lead into the fourth. The Mavericks cut the deficit to 61-55 on Cody Seiber's 3-pointer with 1:01 left. Loudon hit 6 of 8 foul shots in the last 54 seconds. Curtis was 5-of-6 in that stretch and finished with nine points. Loudon avenged a 67-52 loss at Anderson County on Jan. 4. "This was as close to a must-win game as we've had this season," Narramore said. "The kids came out ready to play and did everything we asked."

Bad stretches doom Redskins in 78-70 loss to Roadrunners
By: Dewey Morgan
Source: Loudon County News-Herald
01-16-2008

Every time the Redskins started to make a comeback, Austin East had an answer. That's what it seemed like Tuesday night as Loudon fell at home to the Roadrunners 78-70. “We played our guts out,” Loudon Head Coach Colt Narramore said after the game. “They just put you in three minute bad stretches where you turn it over a few times and that was the difference in the ballgame.” Darryl Florence opened the game with a three but Loudon's Drew Eller answered right back with a tray of his own. After Eller and Travis Pryor traded jumpers, the Roadrunners went on a 7-0 mini-run to take an early lead.

It didn't last long, though, as Ben Everett came back with a three-point play and Grant Gasper took an in-bound pass and streaked in for a layup. After an Augusta Robinson layup, Eller scored eight of the next 10 points - the final two giving Loudon the lead with 52.4 seconds left. Austin East scored the final three points of the quarter, though, on a putback layup by Jamal Lundy and a free throw by Chase Jones and led 20-18 after one.

Neither team gained an advantage for the first half of the second period as Lamar Colvin opened the period with a three-point play but Kenny Jones answered right back with a three-point play of his own.

Two minutes later, Eller hit a couple free throws to give Loudon a lead and, after a Kenny Jones layup, Eller and Colvin pushed the advantage to three at 32-29. A quick three by Florence tied the game at 32 and sent the Roadrunners on a 19-1 run that lasted through halftime. The Redskins never got within four of the Roadrunners the rest of the night. The hosts did pull within five once and eight twice, but Austin East quickly answered every potential Loudon run.

At the end of the game, the Redskins came within six after Eller made both ends of a one-and-one, but the Roadrunners closed out the game hitting seven of eight free throws and outscored Loudon 7-5 in the final 50 seconds.

Eller finished the game leading all scorers with 29 points and Narramore had high praise for the senior. “That's how Drew Eller is capable of playing,” the coach said, adding, “We've got to get to where he can do that a little more often.”

Ben Everett followed Eller with 18 points in the loss. Chance Jones led the Roadrunners with 19 points - all coming in the second half - while Florence added 18. Chase Jones tacked on 16 while Kenny Jones tossed in 10.

The Redskins (9-6) travel across the bridge Thursday to take on rival Lenoir City. Game time is set for 8 p.m.

AUSTIN EAST - Chance Jones 5(6-7)19; Florence 5(4-7)18; Chase Jones 6(4-10)16; K Jones 3(3-4)10; Pryor 4(0-0)8; Robinson 2(0-0)5; Lundy 1(0-0)2 TOTALS 26(17-28)78

LOUDON - Eller 8(7-8)29; Everett 7(3-3)18; Gasper 3(1-2)8; Colvin 3(2-3)8; Strange 1(0-0)3; Haskins 1(0-2)2; Curtis 1(0-0)2 TOTALS 24(13-18)70 AUSTIN EAST 20 24 16 18 - 78 LOUDON 18 15 17 20 - 70

Everett, Eller lead Loudon over CAK
Source: Loudon County News-Herald
01-09-2008

Seniors Ben Everett and Drew Eller stepped up for Loudon Tuesday night, combining for half of the Redskins' 61 points in a 61-50 win at CAK. Each senior finished with 15 points, almost double what anyone else put up. Eller got most of his points in the opening quarter as he drained a trio of threes to help the Redskins to a seven-point lead after one. Everett picked up from there, scoring six to help keep Loudon up 36-32 at the break. The teammates combined for nine of Loudon's 15 points -with Everett scoring seven - in the third as the Redskins dominated the quarter 15-8. They each posted just a bucket in the final period as the teams each scored 10 in the final period to seal the final score. Everett and Eller were the only Redskins to finish with double digits as Lamar Colvin and Kevin Dills trailed with eight apiece. The Redskins (9-5) will take the remainder of the week off and return to action Tuesday at home against Austin-East. Game time is set for 8 p.m.

LOUDON - Everett 7(1-1)15; Eller 6(0-0)15; Colvin 3(2-2)8; Dills 3(0-0)8; Gasper 3(1-2)7; Haskins 1(2-2)4; Strange 2(0-0)4 TOTALS 25(6-7)61

CAK - Berube 6(5-6)17; Wills 6(0-0)13; Cross 4(0-0)8; Byrge 2(1-2)5; Kitts 2(0-0)4; Naser 1(0-0)2; Cates 0(1-2)1 TOTALS 21(7-10)50 LOUDON 19 17 15 10 - 61 CAK 12 20 8 10 - 50

Super 16 Tournament

Source: Loudon County News-Herald 01-02-2008

Bulldogs too much for Redskins to handle

Source: Loudon County News-Herald
01-02-2008

The size and strength of Bearden proved too much for the Redskins early on as they fell behind the Bulldogs 20-5 after the opening quarter and went on to defeat 87-60 in the second round of the Super 16 Tournament in Bearden Friday night.

Every starter for the host Bearden stood at least six-feet tall and the center, Demonte Simpson, stood at six-feet, nine-inches.

Things didn't get much better for Loudon after the first quarter as the Redskins allowed 30 points in the second and faced a 50-24 deficit at the break. After Bearden opened the third with a bucket, Loudon made a slight comeback as Grant Gasper nailed a jumper and fellow senior Drew Eller sunk a three. The comeback attempt didn't last, though, as the Bulldogs accounted for the next nine points.

The Redskins outscored their hosts from there, but still trailed 71-43 heading to the final quarter. The fourth was no different for the Redskins as the rest of the game. The deficit ranged between 27 and 34 and Loudon was never able to crawl any closer as the Bulldogs advanced to the championship game and sent Loudon to the third-place game.

Gasper led the Redskins with 19 points and Eller followed with 16. Blake Jenkins, son of former Tennessee Vol Fred Jenkins, led all scorers with 22 and Nathan Parker added 14. Dustin Graig and Gabe Campbell tacked on 11 each. The Redskins (7-4) played that third-place contest Saturday. Look for a recap of the game in the Wednesday/Thursday issue of the News-Herald.

LOUDON - Gasper 7(5-10) 19; Eller 4(4-4) 16; Everett 1(5-7) 7; Colvin 3(1-2)7; Haskins 1(2-2) 4; Strange 1(0-0) 3; Lanter 1(0-0) 2; Dills 0(2-2) 2 TOTALS 18(19-27 ) 60

BEARDEN - Jenkins 8(6-6) 22; Parker 5(3-6) 14; Simpson 7(0-0) 14; Graig 5(1-2)11; Gabe Campbell 4(3-4)11; Galen Campbell 2(0-0)4; Collins 1(2-2)4; Ovavetz 1(0-0)2; Tevars 1(0-0)2; Upchurch 1(0-0)2; Ware 0(1-2)1 TOTALS 35(16-22)87 LOUDON 5 19 19 17 - 60 BEARDEN 20 30 21 16 - 87

Jefferson City v. Loudon

With just 1.4 seconds remaining in a tightly contested game, Loudon's Drew Eller knocked down two free throws to give his team a three-point advantage. Jefferson County's ensuing attempt at a game-tying three rattled off the rim and the Redskins held on for a 43-40 win Thursday night at the Super 16 tournament in Bearden. The Redskins held a two-point advantage through much of the first three quarters, but the tenuous lead seesawed between the teams in the fourth. Finally, following consecutive turnovers at the end of the game, Eller hit both clutch free throws to secure the win. The senior scored 10 points in the game, but still trailed teammate Grant Gasper's 12 to lead the team.

JEFF CITY - Long 8(0-0)16; Marks 3(4-5)10; Lindsay 3(1-2)7; Sherrod 1(1-2)3; Shoop 1(0-0)2; Collins 0(2-2)2 TOTALS 16(8-11)40

LOUDON - Gasper 5(1-3)12; Eller 3(2-2)10; Strange 2(2-2)8; Everett 3(0-0)6; Haskins 2(0-1)4; Curtis 0(2-2)2; Colvin 0(1-2)1 TOTALS 15(8-12)43 JEFF CITY 10 9 11 10 - 40 LOUDON 12 9 11 11 - 43

Redskins overcome Austin-East 61-58

Source: Loudon County News-Herald
12-19-2007

In come-from-behind fashion, the Loudon Redskins did something Monday night they hadn't done since the first George Bush was in office – they defeated Austin East. The Roadrunners led by as much as 12 through the first three quarters, but a late Loudon surge, capped by a deep jumper by Drew Eller to give the Redskins the lead, secured a 61-58 road victory. The Redskins, playing without Lamar Colvin after he fouled out with three minutes remaining, saw a four-point deficit after three quarters double to eight in the fourth. The press worked very well for the visitors in the final period, though, as they forced their hosts into mistakes and turned those errors into points on the other end. With two minutes to play, Eller nailed a jump shot from just inside the arc to give Loudon a 56-55 advantage – a lead the Redskins never surrendered.

The return of forward Ben Everett aided the Redskin surge as he grabbed an important offensive rebound and put back during the comeback and then hit two free throws after being fouled on a breakaway in the final minute. The game featured heavy presses from both sides the entire time and Loudon fought from behind from the tip-off. After his team trailed by eight, midway through the first, Eller knocked down consecutive jumpers and the Redskin deficit was just four at 15-11 after the first.

The Roadrunner lead grew to 10 after Travis Pryor tallied seven points, but senior Grant Gasper stepped up with 12-second quarter points to pull within one late in the period. A missed go-ahead shot by Loudon led to a Chase Jones basket, though, and the Roadrunners took a 33-30 lead to the break. Yet again the hosts took a large lead early in the third as the Austin East press led to a 12-point advantage in the opening minutes of the second half. The Redskins still refused to give in, though, as Gasper posted six more points in the third to spark the visitors' rally to cut the lead after the third to four at 46-42.

Gasper led all scorers with 28 points and Eller followed with 16.

Pryor paced the Roadrunners with 17 while teammate Chance Jones added 13. The Redskins (6-3) will take the holiday off and resume action Thursday, Dec. 27 for the Super 16 Tournament at Bearden.

The Redskins will open the tourney with a game against Jefferson County at 6 p.m.

LOUDON - Gasper 12(4-7)28; Eller 6(0-0)16; Everett 2(2-4)6; Curtis 1(2-4)4; Brennan 1(1-2)3; Colvin 1(0-0)2; Strange 1(0-0)2 TOTALS 24(9-17)61

AUSTIN EAST - Pryor 7(3-6)17; Chance Jones 4(2-2)13; Chase Jones 5(2-6)12; Florence 2(2-2)7; Lundy 2(0-0)5; K Jones 1(0-0)2; Hale 1(0-0)2 TOTALS 22(9-16)58 LOUDON 11 19 12 19 - 61 AUSTIN EAST 15 18 13 12 - 58

Redskins Cruise to Win Over Jackets

Source: Loudon County News-Herald
12-17-2007

Loudon Head Coach Colt Narramore said “it's good to bounce back after two tough losses” Friday night after his team bounced back in supreme fashion, dominating Kingston 69-38 at home.

The Redskins snapped a two-game losing skid that saw them lose to district rival Stone Memorial and Sweetwater over the past week.

They showed no signs of struggling Friday, though, as they jumped out to an early 8-0 lead after a minute and only grew the lead from there. The Redskin advantage expanded to 14-2 three minutes later and they ended the quarter up 19. The hosts allowed just nine points in the second period, while posting 21 of their own. Lamar Colvin led the way with eight points and David Lee Haskins went a perfect four for four from the line.

They showed no signs of slowing after the break as they put up 16 in the third and allowed just 10 to the Yellow Jackets. Narramore cleared the bench for the fourth and Kingston finally gained an advantage, outscoring Loudon 12-6 to seal the final tally. Tyler Lanter hit the only field goal of the quarter for Loudon, a deep ball from behind the arc.

Colvin topped all scorers with 15 and Josh Strange added 12. Kevin Dills and Grant Gasper each tossed in 10 apiece. James Sams paced the Yellow Jackets with 11 points. The Redskins (5-3) finish their pre-Christmas slate Monday with a visit to Austin-East. Game time is set for 8 p.m.

KINGSTON - Sams 5(1-2)11; Murphy 3(0-0)6; Kelley 3(0-0)6; Lax 1(3-4)5; Gaugh 2(0-0)5; Eason 1(0-0)2; Raymer 1(0-0)2; Phillips 0(1-2)1 TOTALS 16(5-8)38

LOUDON - Colvin 7(1-2)15; Strange 4(2-2)12; Dills 3(2-2)10; Gasper 3(2-2)10; Haskins 1(4-4)6; Eller 2(0-0)6; Berry 1(2-2)4; Lanter 1(1-2)4; Hampton 1(0-0)2 TOTALS 23(14-16)69 KINGSTON 7 9 10 12 - 38 LOUDON 26 21 16 6 - 69

Loudon @ Sweetwater

It didn't last long, though, as Ben Roach came back and sunk a layup as time expired to secure Loudon's 53-52 loss to Sweetwater Thursday night.

The Redskins, short Ben Everett, went deep into the bench - including Head Coach Colt Narramore e