Macon Basketball Ends Regular Season
Macon County ended the regular season this week with two away games.
The first game was rescheduled at York and the final game was at Smith County.
On Feb 10th Macon County made the annual trek to Jamestown to face York Institute. Following a postponement the day before due to snow, this game was scheduled for a 3 pm afternoon game. The Tigerettes lost a close contest to the Lady Dragons on Jan 15th 54-60. Macon’s stub of a roster was once again 7 strong but shooting 1 of 8 behind the arc and 2 for 4 inside it in the 2nd quarter would hamper any team. Macon trailed 19-30 at the half. The Tigerettes would out score York in both the 3rd and 4th quarters but the hole was just too big to climb out of. Final score Macon 54 York 61 in a game that Coach White says was one of the best team performances of the season.
Scoring was: Jenna Russell 5, Kassidy Brooks 4, Kyndall Bullington 11, Mattie Goolsby 5, Lyndsey G Belton 24, and Keeley Clariday 5. Kaylynn Dalton played but did not score.
The Tigers had what some consider their worst performance of the season at home against the Dragons, losing 58-71 earlier in the season. However with wins important the Tigers took care of business. Play was nip and tuck thru the first half with Macon leading 27-26 at the half. However, the Tigers simply made the plays in the last two quarters, getting 11 steals and 11 points off of turnovers as well as holding York to 4 points throughout the 4th quarter. Final score Macon 63 York 42.
Scoring was: Seth Carlisle 15, Michael Ashburn 13, Tyler Carlisle 12, Clay Carnahan 11, Trace McPherson 4, Matt Austin 4, Heston King 2, and Cole Carnahan 2. Riley Phillips and Cameron Welch played but did not score.
Macon travelled to Smith County on Thursday Feb 11th. The Tigerettes were playing the 3rd place 8AA Lady Owls in a game that wouldn’t change the Tigerettes future. The inability to score was evident for Macon against the quick, athletic, and unfortunately superior, Lady Owl team. Once again a deep hole, (10-20 at the end of the 1st and 18-29 at the half) the lead was too much to overcome. I’m not one to say officiating caused the outcome of this contest to change, however Smith was 25 of 29 from the free throw line while Macon was 11 of 17. Some fans thought calls were inconsistent, but it was just a forecast of things to come. The final score was Smith County 70 Macon County 56.
Scoring was: Russell 8, Brooks 11, Bullington 14, Belton 14, Dalton 6, and Clariday 3. Goolsby played but did not score.
This boys contest had a lot on the line. Smith was playing for a first round bye and automatic berth into the region tournament while Macon could finish the regular season in 2nd with a win. In a game that saw 26 ties or lead changes Macon trailed 15-18 after one and 26-30 at the half. The Tigers would regain the lead 45-41 heading into the 4th quarter. Fast forward to the final 30 seconds and with the game tied 55-55 the Owls take a final shot, get the rebound and are fouled on the putback. With 0.9 seconds left they miss the first and make the second. In a well executed full court pass from Ashburn to Seth Carlisle, Carlisle was tackled under the basket in a terrible no call as the officials swallowed their whistles. I’m OK with calling the foul on the Tigers to send the Owls to the line, but as they men in stripes were inconsistent all night, they also have to call the foul on Carlisle. But they don’t. Macon had chances late to salt this game away but wild out of control play and too many poor shots and turnovers left the door open. Final score Smith County 56 Macon 55 in an extremely close ballgame.
Scoring was: Ashburn 23, S. Carlisle 8, T. Carlisle 7, King 6, McPherson 4, Carnahan 4, and Austin 3. Phillips played but did not score.
The Tigerettes finish the regular season at 9-19 and 2-12 in 8AA while the Tigers finish 18-10 and 9-5. Both teams will be playing in the District Tournament this week at Tennessee Tech University.