NO. 6 CHARLOTTE LATIN UPSETS NO. 2 CANNON ON THE ROAD
It had been almost a year since Charlotte Latin lost a last-second heartbreaker to the Cannon Cougars in the NCISAA State 4A final on the Hawks’ court.
Tuesday night, Latin got a measure of revenge with a hard-fought 63-60 victory in the battle for first place in the conference. The game was similar to last season’s championship game but in reverse. A year ago, the Hawks had the ball and needed a bucket to tie the game in the final seconds but didn’t score. Tuesday night it was the Cougars who needed a 3-pointer to tie the game, but Karon Boyd’s shot clanged off the iron at the buzzer.
“I was hoping the clock would go off as soon as possible,” said senior guard Chase Montgomery as he witnessed the final Cannon shot. “I heard the horn and then they shot and I was thinking ‘please don’t go in’ and then I saw it hit the iron, and it was our night.”
Montgomery had Latin’s final two buckets in the tight fourth quarter and Brandon Lavitt’s two clutch free throws with ten seconds left gave the Hawks the points to stave off Cannon’s late comeback.
“We never criticize a player for shots that they practice and Chase does that,” said Latin Coach Chris Berger. “He practices those shots and when he takes those and from the sideline, I’m confident that most likely they’re going in.”
Senior forward Graham Calton had a huge night for the Hawks with a game-high 24 points including four 3-pointers. Montgomery added 14 points for Latin.
For the Cougars Jarvis Moss lead all Cannon scorers with 21 points and 7-foot junior Christian Reeves, had 13 for the Cougars.
Cannon coach Che Roth talked about what went wrong for the Cougars Tuesday night.
“I give them (Latin) a ton of credit,” said Roth. “They came out and they were more engaged than we were early. We kind of dug ourselves a hole and we made some really bone-head mistakes at the end of the first half. But I’m so proud of the way that our guys competed. In the second half we played like Cannon.”
Calton came out smoking with 15 first-quarter points to lead the Hawks to a 25-15 advantage after he first eight minutes.
The Latin lead was as big as 12 points before seven early second-quarter points by Moss trimmed the lead to four midway through the period. But Ryan Hirsch had a pair of 3-pointers and Tyler Hendley added a pair of baskets and the Hawks to get the lead back to ten points at the half.
THREE WHO MATTERED:
Graham Calton, Charlotte Latin: Senior forward scored a game-high 24 points including 15 in the first quarte
Jarvis Moss, Cannon School: Senior forward led the Cougars with 21 points including seven in the second which helped slow Latin’s early first-half surge.
Chase Montgomery, Charlotte Latin: Senior guard was the Hawks’ second-leading scorer with 14 points and had two big baskets in the final 1:25 of the fourth quarter.
WORTH MENTIONING:
THEY SAID IT: “I think it was a great effort and we really wanted this game. We tried to make it not so much about revenge but just going out and doing our thing and what we’ve been preparing to do all season.” Latin’s Graham Calton on his reaction to Tuesday night’s win over Cannon.
It had been almost a year since Charlotte Latin lost a last-second heartbreaker to the Cannon Cougars in the NCISAA State 4A final on the Hawks’ court.
Tuesday night, Latin got a measure of revenge with a hard-fought 63-60 victory in the battle for first place in the conference. The game was similar to last season’s championship game but in reverse. A year ago, the Hawks had the ball and needed a bucket to tie the game in the final seconds but didn’t score. Tuesday night it was the Cougars who needed a 3-pointer to tie the game, but Karon Boyd’s shot clanged off the iron at the buzzer.
“I was hoping the clock would go off as soon as possible,” said senior guard Chase Montgomery as he witnessed the final Cannon shot. “I heard the horn and then they shot and I was thinking ‘please don’t go in’ and then I saw it hit the iron, and it was our night.”
Montgomery had Latin’s final two buckets in the tight fourth quarter and Brandon Lavitt’s two clutch free throws with ten seconds left gave the Hawks the points to stave off Cannon’s late comeback.
“We never criticize a player for shots that they practice and Chase does that,” said Latin Coach Chris Berger. “He practices those shots and when he takes those and from the sideline, I’m confident that most likely they’re going in.”
Senior forward Graham Calton had a huge night for the Hawks with a game-high 24 points including four 3-pointers. Montgomery added 14 points for Latin.
For the Cougars Jarvis Moss lead all Cannon scorers with 21 points and 7-foot junior Christian Reeves, had 13 for the Cougars.
Cannon coach Che Roth talked about what went wrong for the Cougars Tuesday night.
“I give them (Latin) a ton of credit,” said Roth. “They came out and they were more engaged than we were early. We kind of dug ourselves a hole and we made some really bone-head mistakes at the end of the first half. But I’m so proud of the way that our guys competed. In the second half we played like Cannon.”
Calton came out smoking with 15 first-quarter points to lead the Hawks to a 25-15 advantage after he first eight minutes.
The Latin lead was as big as 12 points before seven early second-quarter points by Moss trimmed the lead to four midway through the period. But Ryan Hirsch had a pair of 3-pointers and Tyler Hendley added a pair of baskets and the Hawks to get the lead back to ten points at the half.
THREE WHO MATTERED:
Graham Calton, Charlotte Latin: Senior forward scored a game-high 24 points including 15 in the first quarte
Jarvis Moss, Cannon School: Senior forward led the Cougars with 21 points including seven in the second which helped slow Latin’s early first-half surge.
Chase Montgomery, Charlotte Latin: Senior guard was the Hawks’ second-leading scorer with 14 points and had two big baskets in the final 1:25 of the fourth quarter.
WORTH MENTIONING:
- Latin’s Senior Graham Calton received an award before the game for hitting the 1,000 point plateau for his Hawks’ basketball career.
- Prior to Tuesday’s game Cannon ranked third in the state by Max Preps in the NCISAA rankings, while Latin placed 10th. Cannon is No. 2 in the Observer’s Sweet 16 poll. Latin is sixth.
- Tuesday’s win was Latin’s 13th in their last 14 games and seventh in a row. Meanwhile Cannon had its’ ten-game winning streak snapped.
- Cannon’s second-leading scorer DJ Nix did not dress while out with the normal flu.
THEY SAID IT: “I think it was a great effort and we really wanted this game. We tried to make it not so much about revenge but just going out and doing our thing and what we’ve been preparing to do all season.” Latin’s Graham Calton on his reaction to Tuesday night’s win over Cannon.
