Eagles Hold Off Cleveland to run season record to 22-5 and District Mark to 3-1, Lady Eagles Drop Game to Lady Raiders

2/3/24 Evensville, TN

Rhea County with a 22-5 record, faced Cleveland, the last district team they had not played this season, and a win would keep them in first place in 4A District 5. Cleveland jumped out to an early 6-0 lead with 4:15 left in the first quarter. Cleveland held a 14-10 lead after one quarter with Evans providing 10 of the 14 . Sam Stumbo(6 points) and Hank Logsdon(5 points) were part of a 20-5 scoring spurt that helped power Eagles to 30-19 half-time lead with a 20-5 advantage in the quarter.

Carr and Dupre hit baskets to open the third quarter and give the Eagles their biggest lead at 34-19. From there Cleveland outscored Rhea 12-4 to trail by 10, 38-31 before Bryce Dupre beat the buzzer for a 3 pointer to push Eagle's lead to 41-31 after 3 quarters.

Keshawn Smith hit the first bucket of the fourth quarter to push Eagles to 43-31 lead. Cleveland used a couple of Rhea turnovers to get some easy looks at their end and closed the gap to 38-43 with 5 minutes left in regulation. With 2:49, Raiders had cut the lead to 43-41. With 1 minutes left in the game, Raiders gained the lead for the first time since the second quarter at 46-45.

Braylon Geer found Keshawn Smith all alone under the basket and Eagles were back on top 47-46 with 15 second left. Cleveland had to waste a couple of fouls before getting to the fifth foul, which sent Caleb Carr to the line with 5 seconds left in game. Caleb calmly sank both free throws to push the lead to 49-46 and the last second shot by Raiders was no good and Eagles had the big win. Bryce Dupre led Eagles with 15 points and McGuire Evans led Cleveland with 20 points.

Lady Eagles dropped their game to Cleveland 67-27. Hattie Johnston led the Lady Eagles with 6 points and Lauren Hurst hit for 26 to lead Cleveland.

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