Aggressiveness Helps Lift Tates Creek Over LCA in District 43 Matchup
“Creek’s back baby!” Tates Creek’s Jacobi Commodore shouted after defeating the LCA Eagles 66-60.
For the first time since 2010-11, the Tates Creek Commodores are 3-0 to begin the season. On Monday night, they also became 1-0 in District 43 play after.
“The hard work that they put in during the preseason, all the negativity that they heard … they playing with a chip on the shoulder,” Tates Creek head coach Jarrod Gay said. “I’m more proud of them and in showing that what we’re doing in practice, it’s working.”
Commodore scored Creek’s first points of the game—and the last six in order to defeat the Eagles.
First Quarter: Tates Creek 18, LCA 15
LCA lost Pierce Ragland to foul trouble early on, which forced the Eagles to ride on the back of Tyler Hall’s play for the second half of the quarter after building a six-point lead prior.
A strong defensive effort from the Commodores that led to several fast-break opportunities allowed Creek to end the quarter with a three-point lead.
Second Quarter: Tates Creek 43, LCA 38
Coach Gay preached communication in between quarters—his team obliged. The Commodores took a seven-point lead early.
A three-pointer by Elijah Green cut the Creek lead to two for the time being. LCA finally tied the ballgame at 37-all before Eric Hackett nailed a trey, which kept Tates Creek in front for the remainder of the quarter.
Hackett beat the buzzer on another three on the final possession of the half to give Creek a five-point lead heading into the locker room.
He finished the first half with a game-leading 15 points, including a 5-5 performance from the free-throw line. The Commodores as a whole shot 21-28 from the line—the Eagles committed 20 total fouls in the first two quarters.
“Let’s make the referees get their check. Let’s make them work a little bit and earn their money,” Gay said. “We’re going to attack the basket and the backboard, the referee saw these guys are grabbing and fouling and we got to the free-throw line..”
Hall, Hagan Preston, Jack Preston and Brayden Mirus each finished the half with three fouls.
Third Quarter: TC 52, LCA 49
LCA didn’t commit a single foul until there were less than two minutes remaining in the quarter—both free throws were nailed by Camdyn Combs.
Mattox Hadley was called for a technical foul late in the quarter that sparked a mini-run from LCA to end the quarter down just three.
FINAL: TC 66, LCA 60
Josiah Taylor fought hard under the basket the entire game and kept it going early in the final quarter, scoring four-straight points and recording a steal on the defensive end.
Hall kept the Eagles around with a three from the wing. After a defensive stop, he cashed in another to tie the game at 60 with just 75 seconds remaining in the game.
Jacobi Commodore took it upon himself to give Creek a late lead with under a minute left with a shot off the drive.
“Coach Gay just kept telling me to attack the basket because we were in the bonus,” Commodore said. “I just remember him telling me to attack the basket so I just shot the floater and made it.”
A bad inbound pass for LCA with under 30 seconds remaining gave Commodore the chance to score late. A second fast-break layup just seconds later made by Commodore all but sealed the victory for Tates Creek.
“The main thing was, don’t do anything stupid—don’t foul,” Gay said about the game-winning defensive sequence. “We went into our switching defense, We switch and were aggressive. I teach my guys to be aggressive all year and we’re gonna be aggressive, every single opportunity but we got to play smart when we are aggressive.”
Discuss This Article
Comments have moved.
Join the conversation and talk about this article and all things Kentucky Sports in the new KSR Message Board.
KSBoard