Anniston wins early test
- Updated: December 17, 2015
No. 7 Bulldogs ride their defense to a big fourth quarter that nets them victory over No. 5 Cherokee County
Anniston coach Schuessler Ware gets his point across during a time out Thursday.
By East Alabama Sports Today
CHILDERSBURG — DeQuan Ross and Tray Croft each scored 21 points and Willie Thomas had a career-high 10 assists as Anniston celebrated its entrance in the statewide poll with a 74-63 win over Cherokee County in the Coosa River Classic.
The Bulldogs (8-1), riding an eight-game winning streak, broke into the Class 5A poll this week at No. 7. Previously undefeated Cherokee County (7-1) is No. 5 in Class 4A.
Anniston opened a 12-point halftime lead behind 11 points from Hakeem Ross, but as one would expect of a game between two ranked opponents, the margin soon tightened.
The Warriors made it a two-point game going into the fourth quarter under a barrage of 3-pointers. They hit five of their 10 treys in the quarter.
At that point the Bulldogs switched from a 1-2-2 defense to a straight man and that made all the difference. The strong defense fueled the Bulldogs’ offense. Ross scored 10 of his points in the fourth quarter.
“We tried to apply more pressure,” Anniston coach Schuessler Ware said. “The key was we could score on them, but we had to have some stops.”
In addition to their points, post DeQuan Ross had 10 rebounds and hit another 3-pointer, and Croft had three assists and four steals. Marrio Dobbins didn’t score, but he had five assists and five steals. Thomas had seven rebounds and nine points to go with his 10 steals.
“It was great,” Thomas said of his team’s defense in the fourth quarter. “We didn’t want to lose. We came down here to win the whole tournament.”
Quartez Henderson led Cherokee County with 20 points. Joel Wester and Tyren Dupree had 14 apiece.
Anniston plays Niceville (Fla.) in its second tournament game Friday at 6 p.m.
Anniston 74, Cherokee County 63
ANNISTON (8-1) – Marrio Dobbins 0 0-0 0, Tray Croft 9 1-1 21, Hakeem Ross 5 0-0 11, Davion Tippins 4 0-0 8, Willie Thomas 3 3-4 9, DeQuan Ross 9 2-4 21, Christopher Beard 2 0-0 4, Tae Miller 0 0-0 0. Totals 32 6-9 74.
CHEROKEE COUNTY (7-1) – Julian McKnight 1 0-0 3, Jacob Graves 0 0-0 0, Chris Roden 1 0-0 2, Colin Edwards 0 0-0 0, Joel Wester 4 2-2 14, Tyren Dupree 6 1-5 15, Nahum Horton 3 3-6 9, Quartez Henderson 6 5-6 20, Zae Wright 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 11-19 63.
Cherokee County 14 11 22 16 — 63
Anniston 20 17 12 25 — 74
3-point goals: Cherokee County 10 (McKnight, Wester 4, Dupree 2, Henderson 3); Anniston 4 (H. Ross, Croft 2, D. Ross). Total fouls: Cherokee County 11, Anniston 15.
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