Hot Indians attack again

Published 12:22 am Tuesday, December 20, 2005

CHATSWORTH — This time the Indians showed the Chiefs who’s in charge on the hardwood. They’ve been showing just about everyone else this season.

Murray County’s Indians recorded 17 team steals and frustrated Sequoyah’s Chiefs with a dogged press, rolling to a 68-63 victory Monday night at Kenneth Ross Gymnasium.

The win marked the 10th straight for Murray, believed to be the school’s longest streak in five years.

“Ten in a row,” coach Greg Linder said. “I’m very happy about that and I hope we can keep it going.”

The visiting Chiefs (2-8) started hot, constructing an 11-4 lead with 4:29 left in the opening quarter before Linder called time-out and gathered his team round.

The Indians (10-1) responded with a 15-0 run triggered by the hot hands of Daylon Mathis and Chris Rosser. Mathis, who finished with 23 points and nine steals, intercepted an errant bounce pass and went up for two to give Murray a 12-11 lead with 3:19 left in the first period.

Sequoyah was held scoreless for 4 minutes and 24 seconds before scoring late in the first period.

Murray also put together a 15-0 run in Saturday night’s 78-37 clobbering of Southeast.

“We were pitiful with the ball,” said Chiefs coach Mark Farist. “We turned it over too much and were very reckless with it. We were forced to take quick shots, and that’s a credit to (Murray’s) press.”

The Indians never lost control after taking the lead. Sequoyah did cut the deficit to three points at the end of the third period, but Murray’s J.P. Preston drained a pair of 3-pointers to reestablish command.

“I didn’t think we played very well overall,” said Linder, in his first year as head coach. “We were sluggish and lacked some intensity. There were stretches out there where we just didn’t play well at all.”

Murray shot just over 40 percent from the floor — 23-for-57 — and outrebounded Sequoyah, 26-20. The Indians went to the free-throw line 31 times, converting 19 shots. Sequoyah made just four trips.

“There’s no defense for the foul shot,” Farist said. “That hurt us a lot tonight. … It’s really a microcosm of our season.”

Linder employed two variations of the press, using a “tight trap series” and another designed to “stop those quick cutters.”

Both were successful, with the Chiefs committing 26 turnovers in the game.

“The press is key for us,” said Linder. “We have to get pressure like that to win, and we feel we can press anyone.”

Rosser finished with 15 points, Cody Rainey chipped in nine and Preston eight. Matt Hester led the Chiefs with 19 points and Matt Classey pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds.

The contest had been planned as part of the Cartersville Holiday Tournament, which disbanded last week when three teams canceled. Sequoyah volunteered to travel to Murray to salvage a game, while the Indians will visit Cartersville tonight in an effort to do the same.

Tip-off is 5 p.m. for junior varsity and 7 p.m. for varsity.

n Correction: Jade King was Southeast’s leading scorer in the Lady Raiders 49-34 win over Murray.