Sweetwater Tops Sequoyah

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>An undefeated Sequoyah team put their unblemished record on the line Tuesday night at The Den, home of the Sweetwater Wildcats. Sweetwater won, 37-30.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">New Blood</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Sweetwater is forced to play without their starting point guard, Blaine Washington, a college baseball signee. In his place slides freshman <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2279293' first='Hunter' last='Daffron']</strong> (10p vs Midway). Daffron is as experienced as a freshman can be. Thanks to his leadership Sweetwater Middle School advanced to the TSSAA Middle School State Championship Game. Though they lost 43-30 Daffron and his teammates earned big-game experience on a big stage. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Gameplay</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Sequoyah led 19-16 late in the second quarter when <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2051630' first='Chris' last='Alford']</strong> (Sweetwater) earned a trip to the free throw line. Between Alford and teammate [player_tooltip player_id='2279293' first='Hunter' last='Daffron']'s visits to the line, the hosts climbed to within a point.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The two teams re-entered the locker rooms in a tight, poor-shooting 19-18 matchup.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Second Half</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline">Second Half Starters* (Sweetwater)</span></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>#1 [player_tooltip player_id='2051630' first='Chris' last='Alford']*<br>#2 [player_tooltip player_id='2279293' first='Hunter' last='Daffron']* (2027)<br>#13 [player_tooltip player_id='2279407' first='Nolan' last='Dacus'] (2027)<br>#15 Campbell Hicks*<br>#20 Cade Houser* (2025)<br>#25 Parker Holt*</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline">Second Half Starters (Sequoyah)</span><br>#1 Jake Massingale*<br>#3 Skyler Kilby*<br>#4 Tyler Kilby*<br>#5 Billy Barr<br>#15</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Alford came out of the halftime break with his typical fire. Straight to the basket he slashed. Alford is a prominent scorer for the Wildcats, coming off a 36-point performance.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Chiefs struggled to finish off close buckets in the third quarter, at least at the outset because Alford and <strong>Parker Holt</strong> protected the rim. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>In fact, Sequoyah failed to score for the first 4+ minutes of second half action.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Sweetwater extended it to a 27-23 game after two <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2279407' first='Nolan' last='Dacus']</strong> free throw makes. Dacus played on the same Sweetwater Middle School team as Daffron last year. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>27-24 Sweetwater, End 3rd Q.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The fourth quarter began sloppy. [player_tooltip player_id='2051630' first='Chris' last='Alford'] suffered a swipe steal and then a bundled dribbled by the Chiefs caused the basketball to return to Alford, who missed a challenged layup. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Sweetwater embarked on the final three minutes ahead 31-26. Hunter's layup miss gave the ball back to Sequoyah, a hopeful team. Parker Holt capably defended <strong>Tyler Kilby's</strong> drive without fouling. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>At 33-30, Alford broke the Chief press and ended up at the free throw line shooting two. The senior made both, 35-30. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Despite consistent gasps, the Chiefs failed to breathe life into a comeback. Parker Holt and the Sweetwater frontline defended and rebounded expertly. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>[player_tooltip player_id='2051630' first='Chris' last='Alford'] hit 1-2 from the free throw line with 0.2 seconds left and then pumped his fist in the air as time expired. The game lacked elegance, but all W's count the same. Sequoyah (3-1) dropped their first of the season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->