Temple falls

    A good McCallie team, the loss of Chris Rice and a lengthy layoff proved too much for Temple to overcome Tuesday as McCallie rolled to a 79-41 victory.

     McCallie led 14-9 at the end of the first quarter and 31-19 at halftime en route to the easy win.

     Temple was playing its first game without leading scorer and team leader Chris Rice, who moved back to his home state of South Carolina over the Christmas holidays. Rice was averaging 17 points per game. In addition, the Crusaders were playing for the first time since defeating Silverdale on Dec. 14 – a span of 24 days.

     Nathan Pendergrass scored a team-high 16 points and Nathan Rector 11 for Temple, 6-4.

     “We played hard, I can’t fault our effort really,” Temple JV coach Robert Hetrick said. “McCallie’s just got a good team. I think they’ve only lost one game this season.

     “It’s been a while since we’ve played, and we definitely missed Chris. He was such a big part of our team, not only from a physical standpoint but from a leadership standpoint. The guys looked to him. But all that said, I don’t know if we would’ve won tonight even with Chris, or if we hadn’t had the long layoff. McCallie just whipped us. They’re good.”

Stats

Nathan Pendergrass 16 points

Nathan Rector 11 points

T.J. Butts 8 points

O’Shay Turner 4 points

Brandon Thomas 2 points

Temple prevails

     It certainly wasn’t the prettiest of games. In fact, at times it was downright sloppy. However, a win is a win and Temple will take its 45-38 victory over McCallie’s B-team on Thursday night at Vance Gym.

     After a nip-and-tuck first half, Temple assumed control by outscoring McCallie 18-1 in the third quarter to take a 35-21 lead into the fourth quarter. With the large lead, Temple JV coach Robert Hetrick went to his bench, trying to develop some of his younger players.

     Unfortunately, those young players didn’t perform as he had hoped and as a result McCallie stormed back and whittled the Crusaders’ lead to two points in the waning minutes. With the starters back in the game, Temple got a key, old-fashioned 3-point play from Josh Reaves (who was playing on the JV team for the first time this season) off of an inbounds play and a pair of free throws from Nathan Rector to hold on for the seven-point victory.

     “Needless to say, I wasn’t real pleased with the way we played tonight, especially the guys off the bench,” said Hetrick, whose team improved to 7-4. “We beat that team pretty bad the first time we played them. . . tonight we just didn’t come out ready to play. But on the positive side, we showed a lot of poise down the stretch, and we made the plays we needed to to win the game.”

Stats

Nathan Pendergrass 11 points

Josh Reaves 9 points

T. J. Butts 7 points

Nathan Rector 6 points

Jon Hutchins 6 points

O’Shay Turner 3 points

Dexter Petersen 3 points

Poor first half costs Temple

    Temple’s junior varsity team got off to a slow start Friday afternoon and never could recover, losing at Grace 49-36.

    Josh Reaves, playing his second game with the JV, scored a team-high 11 points in a losing cause. Grace outscored Temple by just one in the second half – 20-19 – but the first half proved to be a different story. The Golden Eagles scored 14 points in the first quarter and 15 in the second for a 29-17 halftime lead.

    Temple (7-5 overall, 2-2 in District 5-A) has lost two of three since returning from Christmas break.

    “Grace has a good team,” Temple JV coach Robert Hetrick said. “They came out and made us do some things we didn’t want to do. . . caused some turnovers. We just didn’t play well, especially in the first half. Maybe we were nervous, I don’t know. We calmed down some in the second half, but by then it was too late. We dug ourselves too big of a hole to dig out of.”

Stats

Josh Reaves 11 points

Nathan Pendergrass 9 points

T.J. Butts 7 points

Dexter Petersen 4 points

Calvin Butts 2 points

Jon Hutchins 2

Nathan Rector 1 point

Strong finish lifts Temple

    COPPER BASIN - Temple’s junior varsity team didn’t start off Thursday’s game at Copper Basin very well. The Crusaders finished strong, however, and as a result walked away with a 35-28 victory.

     Temple trailed by two points early in the fourth quarter before scoring the game’s final nine points. T.J. Butt’s 3-pointer from the wing put the Crusaders ahead to stay.

     “It was good to see us close the game the way we did,” Temple JV coach Robert Hetrick said. “I’m not so sure we could’ve done that earlier in the season. Most all of these guys have gotten better as the season has progressed. That’s what happens when you come to practice everyday and work hard.”

     Junior Josh Reaves led a balanced Temple attack with nine points. The Crusaders, winners of two of their last three games, improved to 8-5 overall and 3-2 in District 5-A.

Stats

Josh Reaves 9 points

Dexter Petersen 7 points

T.J. Butts 7 points

Nathan Pendergrass 4 points

Calvin Butts 4 points

Nathan Rector 4 points

Rally lifts Crusaders

    Temple’s junior varsity team dug itself a deep hole Monday night at McCallie.

    Defense, however, allowed the Crusaders to dig itself out of that hole and escape with a gratifying 42-41 victory over the Blue Tornado.

    Coach Robert Hetrick’s squad came back from 17 points down to notch its second straight win and third in the last four games.

    “It was a great comeback,” said Hetrick, whose team improved to 9-5. “We didn’t make a lot of shots, but we kept guarding, and kept guarding. We forced 18 turnovers in the second half and allowed only three points in the fourth quarter. And the big key is we played hard, but we played hard without fouling.”

    The importance of that was twofold for Hetrick’s squad. One, it kept McCallie off the charity stripe. And two, Temple could withstand only so many fouls as it dressed only six players due to illness and defections.

    “We only had six, but those six played,” Hetrick said. “I wasn’t real happy about the way we played in the first half; we played pathetic. But I was proud of them for the way they responded in the second half. If would have been easy for them to quit, but they didn’t. They kept fighting and it paid off in the end with a victory.”

    Josh Reaves and Nathan Pendergrass led Temple, combining for 25 of the Crusaders’ 42 points.

    “Those guys played well, but it was a team effort,” Hetrick said. “Especially on defense. That’s what won the game for us, defense.”

Stats

Josh Reaves 14 points

Nathan Pendergrass 11 points

Nathan Rector 8 points

Calvin Butts 7 points

Dexter Petersen 2 points

Temple holds off Silverdale

    Temple’s junior varsity team found itself involved in a nail-biter for the second straight night on Tuesday.

    And for the second night in a row, the Crusaders found a way to win.

    Led by the Nathan and Nathan show, Temple edged Silverdale 49-45 at Vance Gym in a wild and wooly game featuring three technicals, one ejected visiting coach and one assault charged filed against one of the refs by one of Silverdale’s fans among other oddities.

    While Nathan Rector dominated inside scoring a career-high 20 points, Nathan Pendergrass was doing his thing on the perimeter adding 19 to help Temple stave off the visiting Seahawks.

    It marked the third straight win and fourth over the last five games for Temple, which improved to 10-5 overall and 4-2 in District 5-A. The Crusaders were down by three points at halftime but outscored Silverdale 33-26 in the second half, including a 22-point fourth quarter.

    “We still didn’t shoot it very good, but once again our defense bailed us out,” Temple JV coach Robert Hetrick said. “We guarded. Georgia (Pendergrass) played solid. And Nathan played great down low. He just kept coming and coming. T.J. (Butts) played really well, too. He did a great job on his man defensively. That was a big key in the game.”

    Silverdale’s coaching staff voiced its displeasure with the officials throughout the game. Apparently, the officials had heard enough. They gave Silverdale assistant Ron Wilson the heave-ho in the waning seconds after he was whistled for his second technical after arguing a call that went against his team. Shortly thereafter, Roger Woods was also T’d up – leading to more Temple free throws. With Temple up by four points and the game in hand in the waning seconds, the officials, who had seen, heard and had enough elected to call the game early.

    Coincidentally, as the game was called, one of the officials tossed the ball toward the scorer’s table. No one at the table was able to catch the ball, which struck a Silverdale fan sitting nearby, breaking the fan’s glasses. The irate fan then filed an assault charge against the ref, who gathered his belongings and left the gym.

    “It got pretty wild, especially at the end,” Hetrick said. “I was real proud of our guys for keeping their composure and handling everything in a class manner.”

Stats

Nathan Rector 20 points

Nathan Pendergrass 19 points

T.J. Butts 5 points

Josh Reaves 3 points

Dexter Petersen 2 points

Defense keys win

    Nobody appreciates good defense more than Temple junior varsity coach Robert Hetrick.

    That said, there’s little wonder why Hetrick was so jacked up following his team’s 51-28 victory at CSAS on Friday afternoon.

    The Crusaders held the Patriots scoreless in the first quarter and limited them to just six points in the first half en route to the lopsided victory.

    “That was probably the best defense we’ve played all year,” said Hetrick, whose team has won four straight and five of its last six to improve to 11-5 entering Tuesday’s game at 21^st Century. “It was a collective effort. They were talking to each other, and helping each other out just like we teach. It was fun to watch.”

    Temple’s JV team hadn’t played since easing past Silverdale on Jan. 22. However, the Crusaders showed no rust from the lengthy layoff. If anything, they looked sharper than they have all year.

    Nathan Pendergrass poured in a game-high 19 points, including four 3-pointers to pace Temple. Josh Reaves added 13 points and guards T.J. Butts and Dexter Petersen combined for 16 points.

    Hetrick also applauded the play of Jon Hutchins and Calvin Butts off the bench.

    “Those two really gave us some good minutes,” Hetrick said. “Everybody played well. Like I said earlier, it was a collective effort.”

    Temple led 17-0 at the end of the first quarter, 24-6 at halftime and 32-17 at the end of the third quarter. The Crusaders left nothing to chance in the fourth quarter, outscoring the Patriots 19-11 with Reaves accounting for seven of those.

    “We hit some shots, which was good to see,” Hetrick said. “I felt like we had gone three of four games where we didn’t shoot it as well as we’re capable of shooting it. But the key was defense. We won this game on the defensive end.”

Stats

Nathan Pendergrass 19 points

Josh Reaves 13 points

T.J. Butts 9 points

Dexter Petersen 7 points

Nathan Rector 3 points

Temple loses nail-biter
    The Temple-21^st Century junior varsity game went back and forth on Tuesday afternoon. One team built a lead, the other came back. One team scored a basket, the other team answered.

    It measured up as a game that would come down to the final seconds. And it did.

    Unfortunately, Temple didn’t get the ending it was hoping for.

    21^st Century made a contested 3-pointer from about 25 feet with under 10 seconds remaining to send Temple to the heartbreaking loss.

    “We had two guys run out at him with their hands up, and the guy still made the shot,” Temple coach Robert Hetrick said. “It was a tough way to lose.”

    Hetrick called timeout and set up an inbounds play with under five seconds left, but the Crusaders were able to convert.

    Temple led 51-47 at the end of the third quarter, but 21^st Century outscored the Crusaders 20-14 in the decisive fourth quarter.

    “My guys played hard, that’s all I can ask for,” Hetrick said. “They just happened to make the shot at the end.”

    Nathan Pendergrass pumped in a season-high 27 points to lead Temple. He scored 20 of those points in the first half, 12 coming on 3-pointers, to help the Crusaders build a 34-29 halftime lead.

    Nathan Rector and Josh Reaves added 15 points apiece for the Crusaders (11-6 overall, 4-3 in District 5-A), who had won four straight and five of their last six.   

Stats

Nathan Pendergrass 27 points

Josh Reaves 15 points

Nathan Rector 15 points

Dexter Petersen 5 points

T.J. Butts 3 points

Temple rolls

    Temple junior varsity coach Robert Hetrick was a little worried about his team’s psyche entering Friday’s game against Grace.

    After all, the Crusaders were just a few days removed from a heart-breaking loss at 21^st Century in which they lost on a deep, contested 3-pointer in the waning seconds.

    Acting as if that loss never occurred, Hetrick’s team bounced back in a major way, defeating Grace 39-31 behind 14 points from Nathan Pendergrass.

    “Grace has a very good JV team; they’re very well-coached,” Hetrick said. “They beat us pretty good the first time we played them. But today was our day. That was one of our best games of the season. Again, it started with our defense. We’re really starting to click on the defensive end. . . even against 21^st Century we guarded. They just hit an unbelievable shot at the end of the game. We had balanced scoring today, too. That was big. Everybody contributed on both ends.”

    T.J. Butts, Nathan Rector and Josh Reaves combined for 25 points to complement Pendergrass, the team’s leading scorer. Temple led by double digits throughout most of the game until the waning minute when Grace pulled to within single digits.

    “I thought T.J. was the X-factor,” Hetrick said. “He played really well. He played so hard and so smart. He’s so hard on himself sometimes, he’s probably thinking about the shots he missed. Nathan Rector did a good job inside like always, and Josh Reaves really played well. And I thought Dexter Petersen gave us another solid defensive effort. It was  a total team effort.

    “That’s one thing I like so much about this team,” Hetrick continued. “We’ve never had a problem with somebody being selfish. Georgia (Nathan Pendergrass) scores a lot, but he probably feels like he needs to. We’ve never had guy’s run to the scorebook worried about how many points they scored. That’s unusual, especially when you’re talking about J.V. And that’s a compliment to the kids.”

Stats

Nathan Pendergrass 14 points

Nathan Rector 9 points

T.J. Butts 9 points

Josh Reaves 7 points