Cloudland faced an uphill battle from the opening quarter. Despite a valiant effort, it was too much to overcome.
The ‘Landers were unable to extend the season as they fell 69-65 to Cosby in the Region 1-A semifinals.
The Eagles opened the game on fire.
Cosby opened the game on a 13-3 run with Colby Birchfield adding the Cloudland fg and Chris Wagoner adding a free throw. Josh Blair and Wagoner helped the CHS offense get going, but a 9-2 Cosby run gave the Eagles a 24-9 lead after a quarter of play.
The ‘Landers got settled in during the second quarter as Jesse Potter and Birchfield sparked a 10-3 CHS run. However, the teams traded points as Cosby maintained a 36-28 lead at the half.
Cloudland continued to make runs at the Eagles in the second half.
Dalton Vines scored early buckets for the ‘Landers, but Cosby maintained a 10-point lead with just over four minutes to play in the third. A Blair trey kickstarted an 8-1 Cloudland run to close the gap to three points. Cosby, however, bookmarked a Birchfield jumper to extend the lead to 52-46 going to the final quarter.
In the final quarter, Birchfield hit back-to-back shots and Vines added a free throw as CHS pulled back within four points Cloudland was unable to get closer then four points over the next five minutes as Cosby held a 65-58 lead with two minutes to play. Potter drained a 3-pointer, and Blair added another trey with 30 seconds remaining as CHS closed the lead to 67-63.
After the Eagles added a free throw, Malachi Benfield hit a jumped to pull the ‘Landers with three with two-seconds remaining. Cloudland, however, was unable to tie the game after Cosby iced the game at the free throw line.
Birchfield tallied 23 points for Cloudland, while Vines scored 14 points – 12 of which came in the second half. Blair tallied 13 points. Wagoner scored eight points in the game.
Postgame Audio
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