Terrell Academy stops Deerfield-Windsor

After the final buzzer sounded Friday night at Terrell Academy in Dawson, the TA students flooded out of the stands and into the middle of the basketball court to celebrate after the Eagles defeated rival Deerfield-Windsor 72-59. The students waited until the team members shook hands with the Knights, but once the team joined the other students the chants began: “I believe…I believe we just won!” The win improves the Eagles’ record to 6-1 on the year while Deerfield-Windsor falls to 4-5.

The end of the game was much different than the beginning. The Knights jumped out to a 12-4 lead early as Deerfield-Windsor’s Smith Flynn and Jordan Moser each drilled two three-point shots. The Eagles had trouble scoring early, but Cameron Jones swished a three from the corner and Santa came running out of the box to ignite the Terrell student section and the Eagles came alive.

The Knights led 15-9 after the first quarter but Landon Torbert came off the bench and hit back to back threes to tie the game at 15-15. Torbert hit again, point guard Nick Chambless hit a basket and then Jones nailed another three to put the Eagles up 22-15.

The Knights were never available to regain the lead, but they kept pushing. Deerfield-Windsor senior Zaibrion Drye sank two baskets to close the gap to 31-26 as the clock dwindled toward half time, but Torbert hit another three just before the buzzer to give the Eagles a 34-26 half time lead.

“We had to tweak our defense early on,” said Terrell Academy head coach Robert Bryant. “They were filling it up to begin with, so we had to adjust our zone.”

The Eagles expanded their lead to as many as 17 points early in the fourth quarter but the Knights drew the score closer with a trapping defense that caused some miscues by the Eagles and Deerfield-Windsor sophomore Andrew Sceals drilled four three pointers in the final quarter and six for the night, to give the Knights hope.

Senior Garrett Sloan led the Eagles with 21 points and Cameron Johnson followed with 18. Torbert sank 13 points and Ross West scored 10 for the Eagles.

“We don’t have one guy we can count on for 25 points every night,” Bryant said. “We have to spread it around and get everybody involved. I am really proud of how our guys played tonight. Everybody contributed.”

Sceals led the scoring for the Knights with 18 points and Drye followed with 15. Both Moser and Flynn each added 12 for the Knights.

The Eagles have a week off until next Friday night when they face Heritage Christian out of Orlando in the Brookwood Holiday Hoops event in Thomasville. The Knights are off until next Friday night as well. They will play in the U-Save It Classic at Monroe against Statesboro High School.

Staff Photo: Joe Whitfield