Fleming Hangs On For 54-44 Win Over Cave Spring

Cave Spring senior Jordan Bryant muscles his way to the basket past a pair of Fleming defenders.

December high school basketball can be ugly.

Such was the case Thursday night in the Cave Spring gym as William Fleming blew out to a big lead, then hung on for dear life down the stretch for the 54-44 non-district win over the Knights.

“It wasn’t pretty, that’s for sure ” Fleming head coach Mickey Hardy said with a smile afterward. “We got the big lead then became complacent. I’ll take the win. The good thing is that a lot of our guys got the opportunity to play tonight. You take these games one at a time.”

The Colonels forced the action early and, with the help of a cold shooting hand by the Knights, led 16-3 after the opening quarter.

Things didn’t get much better in the second quarter for Cave Spring until Knight sophomore Cager Hicks hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer that sent the teams to the locker room with Fleming ahead 29-17.

Both teams struggled in the third before Cave Spring made a run midway through the final frame. Connor Baker’s bomb from behind the arc cut the Colonel lead to 38-32, but the Knights would get no closer.

Fleming, taking advantage of numerous offensive rebounds throughout the second half, managed to maintain control, leading the charge was junior Adrian Dungee, stepping up to provide the key final push for Fleming.

Dungee finished with 20 points on the night, including a quartet of clutch free throws in the final minute.

“This was a sloppy game,” Cave Spring head coach Billy Hicks noted. “We have to learn how to take care of the ball.”

“Fleming got a lot of points on second, third and fourth chances after misses,” Hicks added. “They took long shots and long shots lead to long rebounds. They were quicker to the ball.”

Cave Spring was without floor leader and leading scorer Terrell Simmons, who was still recovering from an ankle injury suffered against Northside.

“We missed Terrell,” Hicks said. “I thought we had a chance when we got it to six, but we came up short. We outscored them in the final three quarters, but we had dug a big hole. We count on Terrell to get us out of the gate with a bang.”

In addition to Dungee’s game-high performance, sophomore Warren Craft scored 14 points for the Colonels.

BILL TURNER game story/photos

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