BRISTOL, Tenn. – To say that Cardinal Newman School (S.C.) and Morristown East love riveting schedule challenges might just be two of the more blatant understatements this fall.
Without question, those aforementioned scheduling concoctions made for an awfully enticing opening-round Arby’s Classic contest Wednesday.
Already playing its seventh game away from home – along with its successful road appearances in both the Bojangles Bash and the Phenom Hoop Report Winter Classic – the Cardinals needed every ounce of energy to stave off countless Hurricane rally waves and post a gutsy 77-70 triumph inside Viking Hall.
“I think we try to schedule that way so that our guys can get used to being on the road and playing in different environments,” said Cardinal Newman coach Philip Deter, whose squad advances to take on Buford (Ga.) in Friday’s 5 p.m. quarterfinal matchup. “At the end of the day, we pride ourselves defensively. Obviously, I’m not happy about giving up 29 points in the fourth quarter. But we’ve been really fortunate to shoot the ball really, really well, and we came out of that first-game loss [to A.C. Flora, S.C.] lighting it up from the 3-point line.”
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However, the Cardinals couldn’t count on that long-range shooting for one of the few times this season. Additionally, the Cardinals – who have now won 10 of their first 11 games – had to deal with sizzling shooting from the other side.
For the Columbia crew, there were actually two reasons for Wednesday’s much-needed energy. That’s because the Morristown East guard tandem of Conner Jordan and Cameron Rymer nearly brought the Hurricanes (9-7) back to victory thanks to a combination of slashing drives and torrid 3-point shooting – with most of their scores taking place in the blink of an eye.
Literally. With Jordan quickly shifting his way towards the bucket on 6-of-8 first-half shooting towards a 27-point output, Rymer shook off a forgetful opening 16 minutes to post the tourney’s best second-half performance so far. Rymer blistered the nets for 27 of his game-high 29 points during the second half alone – hitting five of his seven treys during the final stanza.
“They’re great basketball players,” said Morristown East coach Ryan Collins, whose squad will face Tennessee High in Friday’s 9 a.m. elimination-round matchup. “And they’re great because they’re highly skilled. They’ve really worked hard at their craft, and it shows up during the biggest moments. I’m especially proud of Cameron tonight. He really struggled in the first half, plus he kind of battled with those internal demons and doubt. He comes around to score 27 points [in the second half]. That’s what we expect out of the leaders from our program.
“Conner is a big reason we can compete with any team, any place, and any time because he believes in himself – and it carries over to our team. They continue to deliver night in and night out against the best.”
The Cardinals, though, had their own answers. Chico Carter, Jr. kept Morristown East at bay by canning three trifectas during the third, while teammate Malik Tucker (13 points) connected on back-to-back baskets in the same period to keep that double-digit advantage.
Josh Beadle – who also had 13 points – converted a critical stickback with 3:21 left to take the winds out of yet another Hurricane surge, while Carter hit six foul shots over the 40 seconds to seal the win.
“We were faced with a lot of adversity,” said Carter, who matched Rymer with a game-high 29 points. “We had never seen a box in one [defense] this season, but my teammates were able to find me in the right spots and kept encouraging me. We were able to come out with the win.”
For the Hurricanes, it was their sixth loss by less than 10 points. But the competition has featured the likes of Bearden, Dobyns-Bennett, Morristown West, and Greeneville – just to name a few.
“We’ve really put together a tough schedule, and the tough schedule is to challenge us,” said Collins, who got 10 points from Braden Ilic. “I think through challenge and through discomfort, you grow. Unfortunately, we haven’t put together the four quarters where we’ve played really well every possession. And to win a game of this magnitude against a team of that magnitude, the bottom line is that you can’t have poor possessions. We sprinkled some of those in there.”
Add in Wednesday’s memorable contest against Cardinal Newman.
“I thought it was gutsy, and kind of relentless, effort from our team in the second half,” Collins said. “We really struggled offensively in the first and got ourselves into a hole. Sometimes that can take you out of a game, but our team kept fighting. We’ve proved we can compete with really quality basketball teams.”