BRISTOL, Tenn. – Dorman (S.C.) could’ve bristled and carried on about a questionable negation of a late fourth-quarter, alley-oop slam from Keenan Arcega-Whiteside – especially when the result forced an extra frame Friday afternoon.
Instead, the Cavaliers – especially Christian Gentry – handled business by letting their basketball skills do the talking.
While Dorman’s steady, yet collective overtime play was downright impressive, Gentry’s virtuoso performance inside Viking Hall was worthy of at least one encore request. After notching a <&underline>three-point</&underline> play just 11 seconds into the fifth stanza, Gentry actually provided two encores – ultimately landing seven consecutive points to propel the Cavaliers past Oak Ridge 65-55 as part of mesmerizing Arby’s Classic elimination-round action.
“I did once in AAU, but not in school ball,” admitted Gentry, when asked about his seven-point play historical experiences. “I was trying to stay with the game flow, and I felt that momentum. I was just letting everything go on out there and just concentrating on the game. For starters, I was just focusing on my foul shots.”
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Plural, not singular. That’s because the moment before Gentry – who poured in 21 points behind 8-of-12 shooting – attempted his one foul shot, referees assessed Oak Ridge coach Aaron Green a technical foul. Gentry, meanwhile, calmly knocked down all three tries.
“He was really calm and collected – and that shows me a lot of confidence,” praised Dorman coach Thomas Ryan. “For a senior guard, that’s an expectation. He really stepped up there. That changed the momentum of the game.”
Gentry then capped his personal seven-point OT swing a minute later with a driving layup for a 60-53 lead with 2:46 remaining. The Wildcats (12-5) would get two Kaden Brightharp foul shots 16 seconds later, but that would be the extent of their overtime scoring.
“Both teams played hard, and it was a heck of a game,” said Green. “For us, we had 21 turnovers – with six of seven of those leading to layups, which is what I call pick-sixes. You take out two or three of those and you win the game. That’s the stat which stands out to me.”
Christian Andrews provided quite the 1-2 punch with Gentry from the Cavalier guard spot, scoring in every frame – including four OT points – to finish with a game-high 24 points and six steals.
“It’s a big win for us,” Andrews said. “It’s definitely a confidence booster. We now have two back-to-back wins, and we’re looking forward to tomorrow.”
Both teams had solid looks to win it in regulation. Andrews misfired from deep with six seconds to go, allowing Oak Ridge time to win it. The Wildcats passed on the timeout, as hard-charging guard RayQuan Watson (13 points, seven rebounds) accelerated into the frontcourt – zipping a pass to his left and over to an open Brennen Scott from the corner.
But Scott’s 3-point try as the buzzer sounded clanged away from the front iron.
“Sometimes in scrambling situations like that one, you don’t want to call a timeout – and I trusted RayQuan to make the right play,” Green noted. “He got into the paint and found the right guy, plus it was a clean look. Brennen can shoot it. It just didn’t go in.”
Andrews and Gentry nearly played the entire 36 minutes for Dorman (13-2), combining for 50 percent in field-goal shooting and a stellar 75 percent from the charity stripe.
“Coming into the season, those two senior guards had to play well for us to be good,” continued Ryan, whose squad will look to land sixth-place honors in Saturday’s 1:30 p.m. contest against Independence (Tenn.). “And today, they did that. It was really good to see them come through and make some big plays. They also combined for 10 steals, which tells me that they were super active on the defensive end.”
Garrett Giles, who evened the count at 53-53 behind a driving layup with 2:28 left in the fourth, collected a team-high 19 points and eight rebounds for Oak Ridge.
OAK RIDGE (55)
Heyward 1 0-0 2, Greene 3 1-1 7, Jemerson 0 1-2 1, Giles 6 5-7 19, Scott 2 0-0 5, Watson 3 6-8 13, Johnson 0 0-0 0, Brightharp 3 2-2 8. TOTALS 18 15-20 55.
DORMAN (65)
Andrews 7 7-9 24, Gentry 8 5-7 21, Burns 0 0-0 0, Breazeale 2 0-0 4, McNeil 2 0-0 5, Gilliam 3 3-4 9, Arcega-Whiteside 1 0-2 2, Williams 0 0-0 0, Bush 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 23 15-22 65.
Oak Ridge 16 8 18 11 2 – 55
Dorman 15 15 13 10 12 – 65
3-point goals – Oak Ridge 4 (Giles 2, Scott, Watson), Dorman 4 (Andrews 3, McNeil). Total fouls – Oak Ridge 20, Dorman 21. Fouled out – Watson, Gilliam. Technical – Oak Ridge bench.