After a disappointing loss to start the week the Chesnee Eagles bounced back in a big way on Thursday night as they defeated Blacksburg 60-51 for their first win over the Wildcats since 2014. "it's a really big win," said Chesnee basketball player Nyquille O'Fair. "After Monday's game it's a big comeback for us and we needed to comeback from the adversity and that's exactly what we did." Chesnee head basketball coach Andy Pitt shared in O'Fair's importance of the Eagles' victory over Blacksburg. "We faced some adversity on Monday that kind of spilled over into Tuesday and the guys responded," said Pitt. "We found a way to go out and get a win. It's amazing when a group of guys come together what they can accomplish." The Eagles jumped on the Wildcats early to start the game as they went on a 6-0 run in the first two minutes of the game and helped them take a 15-11 lead at the end of the first quarter. Blacksburg wasn't going to go down without a fight though as they outscored the Eagles 14-11 in the second quarter and just trailed the Eagles by one at halftime. The Wildcats continued to claw back against the Eagles lead and even had the game tied at 39-39 when the buzzer for the end of the third quarter sounded. Pitt said that he wasn't surprised by the way the way the Wildcats fought back in the game. "We knew Blacksburg was going to make a run," said Pitt. "Their teams always do and it seems like every time we play it's a hotly contested game and this one was no different." Pitt said that even despite the runs by Blacksburg he was very proud of the demeanor of his team. "We talked in pregame about attitude, effort and energy," said Pitt. "They were all getting up and cheering each other on and nobody got down when it was their turn to come out of the game but they kept their heads up." In the fourth quarter the Eagles took ahold of the game by outscoring Blacksburg 18-12 in the quarter with most of those points coming from the free throw line where the Eagles went ten of thirteen from the line. The Eagles were led in the quarter by O'Fair who scored eight his game high twenty points in the quarter with six of those coming from the free throw line where he said he knew how important those shots were late in the game. "It's a big focus point to make sure you knock down those shots late in the game," said O'Fair. "If you can step up and hit those shots from the line and get to the line it's a big part in winning the game." Pitt said the contribution on Thursday night from O'Fair and the post play from Cole Hoskyns, who scored seventeen points of his own, were key in the Eagles victory. "Nyquille made some big plays for us and I think he stepped up and put the team on his back especially early," said Pitt. "Then we fed Cole on the post and he found ways to make some big plays down there." Chesnee won't have a lot of time to celebrate their victory as they will return to action on Friday night as they host Greer. Lady Eagles Rally Falls Short Against WildcatsThe Chesnee Lady Eagles fell down early in the game but fought back to get within three before falling to Blacksburg 50-43 on Thursday night.
Chesnee was down 16-4 at the end of the first quarter and even trailed 24-8 at the five minute mark in the second quarter before a timeout was taken by the Eagles. Chesnee then responded with a 15-1 run to close the quarter and put Blacksburg's halftime lead at 28-23. Senior Abbey Ray scored ten of her game high twenty-five points in the quarter while also getting five points from Brie Smith and four points from Jessa Beach. In the third quarter the Wildcats outscored Chesnee 9-6 in a very low scoring quarter for both teams with Blacksburg leading 37-29 when the buzzer to end the quarter sounded. Chesnee started the fourth quarter on an 8-3 run and were within three points of the lead with just under five minutes to go in the game but the Wildcats followed the Chesnee run up with a 7-1 run of their own. The Eagles tried to make another run but were never able to get closer than five before ending up falling by seven to the Wildcats. While Ray led the Eagles on offense they also got a good night from Jessa Beach who also finished in double digits scoring thirteen points on Thursday night. The Lady Eagles will also be in action again on Friday night as they host Greer at 6:00 PM. Comments are closed.
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