Heritage High School Generals charge to win

RINGGOLD, Ga. -- They may not be the second coming of Mr. Inside and Mr. Outside, but when a basketball game gets to crunch time, Cameron Sherlin and Cody Sanders fit the bill quite nicely at Heritage High School.

The two combined for 19 points in a fourth-quarter rally Tuesday in which the Generals erased a nine-point deficit to edge Catoosa County rival Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe, 67-62. The comeback helped ease some of the lingering affects of Friday's loss to another county rival, Ringgold.

"Losing tonight would have been brutal," Heritage coach Kevin Terry said. "Losing to Ringgold Friday was a gut shot because we played so terribly, but to come in tonight to beat a good LFO team was nice. Cameron and Cody had a nice fourth quarter, but it was the defense that got us back in it."

LFO's Alec Rattanaxay and Daniel Parrish took turns hitting big shots as the Warriors (2-3) steadily built their lead, reaching its peak on a Parrish drive opening the final period. Terry decided to give the pair more attention defensively, and it worked.

"We changed defenses a little bit to slow down Parrish and Rat," the coach said. "They were scoring it all over the place, and we wanted to force other guys to hit shots. We were able to slow them down a bit, and we started moving the ball better."

Sherlin, who had a game-high 26 points, scored six quick points, then made a steal and a dish to Jacob Carter, whose layup made it a one-point game, 50-49. However, LFO's Reggie Page hit a 3-pointer, was fouled and completed the four-point play to regain momentum.

Sanders, who had 17 points and 14 rebounds, then took over inside, getting a three-point play and later adding a strong drive to tie the game at 53. LFO again surged ahead by four on two Parrish free throws, but a Sanders putback started a 7-0 run that ended with a Sanders drive and a 63-60 lead for Heritage (4-2) with 50 seconds to play.

The Warriors got a Tristan Evans layup with 17 seconds left, but Sherlin sealed the win with four consecutive free throws.

"We lost to Ringgold in an awful loss, so we came out with a better mindset tonight and out-hustled a good Lakeview team," Sherlin said. "When we were down we had to stick to our game plan and keep our composure."

Rattanaxay led LFO with 17 points but was shut out in the final period, while Parrish added 16, Page 13 and Evans 10.

Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296.

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