Cherokee County's D.J. Fife, left, gets a shot off as Cedar Bluff's Kyle Crane applies defensive pressure during their game on Friday.
He finally saw signs of that against Cedar Bluff on Friday night.
Yes, Blanchard led the Warriors in scoring with 19 points (16 in the second half), but the teammates surrounding him elevated their games a little higher in a 67-50 win over the Tigers.
Tyler Stubbs added 13 points for the Warriors (11-9). D.J. Fife had nine points, while Brett Burgess and Keon Rucker both netted eight.
Reid said the Warriors had prepared for Cedar Bluff (11-10) to run a box-and-one defense against them. While the Tigers did show that some, they mainly attacked the Warriors in a triangle-and-two formation.
“It confused the kids a little bit,” Reid said. “Once we were able to get in a situation where we could talk to them and tell them what we could do against it, I think we were fine. I think it was more we were prepared for something else.”
The Warriors only held a 16-13 lead after the first quarter before they began to pull away. They led 34-21 at the break and held a 46-31 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.
Blanchard’s counterpart, the Tigers’ Tyric Scales, also had a bit of trouble getting some shots to fall early. But much like Blanchard did, once Scales found a rhythm, it was hard to contain him.
Scales led the Tigers with 22 points, including 13 in the second half. Jim Nelson netted 11 points and grabbed 11 boards. Marcus Reese had nine points and Seth Gordon finished with six points and nine rebounds.
While those numbers were impressive, Cedar Bluff coach Joe Carpenter was more concerned with the number of turnovers the Tigers had: 36.
“We did some things different defensively this time, and it worked out for us for a while, but we got in foul trouble and their pressure defense pushed us out,” he said. “We didn’t do a good job on offense. We did alright defensively, but they’re extremely quick. It’s hard for us to get in our game because they’re quicker than we are. Their overall team speed is faster than us.”
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