The Rogersville Review

KINGSPORT - Sullivan South controlled the boards and kept Volunteer at bay all game long on its way to a 64-53 Big 8 victory Wednesday night at South.

"One of our keys to this game tonight was to beat them on the boards," said Volunteer coach Todd Whittemore. "We knew they were a little bit bigger than us, a little bit more athletic than us. We had to find guys and block them out on the defensive end.

"I just felt like when the shot went up, we just turned and watched and kind of waited to jump for it," Whittemore said. "You cannot do that with good rebounding teams."

Devon Forgety's three-pointer with 2:53 in the first tied the game at 7-7, but South (10-4, 5-1) went on an 8-2 run to close the quarter and take a 15-9 lead into the second.

A trey by Cody Moore pulled Volunteer (2-9, 1-5) back to within 17-12, but South went on a 17-11 run to end the half with South on top, 34-23.

South senior point guard Bailee Dick returned from breaking his nose Dec. 28 and gave the Rebels a spark.

"I think that gave them a little boost," said Whittemore. "We really didn't have a boost tonight. We just never got anybody going. We could not get stops on the defensive end. When they didn't score on us, we fouled them in the second half. They either scored or we fouled them. When you're trying to get back into a game, you can't just trade baskets. I think that's what we did the whole second half."

South built its lead up to 15 in the second half.

"In the second half, we did more of what we wanted offensively, but we just didn't do a good job in either half of blocking out or rebounding. They made some tough shots but it was the extra shots they got that really killed us.

"That was a big difference in the game," said Whittemore. "They're a good team and were playing well tonight. We just didn't do enough good things. That's how it is in this league. Our interior defense tonight was not very good. We didn't talk. When we switched, we didn't switch and get in a good position. We just played behind in the post and you can't do that with good teams. They're a good, physical team."

South's Andrew Pickwell led all scorers with 17. Forgety scored 15 for the Falcons.

"If you dig yourself a hole on the road you get the home team playing at the pace they want. The way we played the game was not good. Everybody wanted to shoot jump shots," Whittemore said.

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