Oak Ridge junior Tee Higgins (5) is pictured above in the 2015 Arby’s Classic basketball tournament in Bristol on Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2015. (File photo by Allen Greene/TriCitiesSports.com)
Oak Ridge junior guard Tee Higgins scored 26 points, but the Wildcats fell to Cordova 72-59 in the National Hoopfest in west Tennessee on Saturday. It’s only the second loss of the year for Oak Ridge.
The basketball game was tied 44-44 at the end of the third quarter, but Oak Ridge struggled with turnovers in the fourth. The Wolves didn’t hesitate to take advantage and convert those turnovers into points, according to Oak Ridge Wildcats.
Oak Ridge (19-2, 7-0 District 3-AAA) was at a height disadvantage. One of Cordova’s players is 6-foot-9 and headed to Murray State.
Still, Oak Ridge led by six points, 17-11, at the end of the first quarter at Arlington High School in Memphis, and they trailed by only three, 31-28, at halftime after a buzzer-beater by Tyler Harris of Cordova.
But broadcaster David Clary said the Wildcats struggled on the glass against a much taller Cordova team. They had three straight turnovers in the fourth quarter after Cordova scored four straight points to increase its lead to 55-51 and then go up by 65-52 over Oak Ridge, Clary said. The Wildcats were outscored 28-15 in the last quarter.
Higgins scored 20 of his points in the first half, and he scored the last four points of the third quarter to tie the game. Higgins also pulled down 11 rebounds, giving him a double-double.
The game was one of 16 in the Fifth Annual Penny Hardaway National Hoopfest.
Oak Ridge, which remains undefeated in the district, will play a District 3-AAA game at home on Tuesday, January 12, at Wildcat Arena against Campbell County. That game starts at 7:30 p.m. It will be preceded by the junior varsity boys at 4:30 and the varsity girls at 6 p.m.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
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