ELKMONT DROPS TO 8-3

The Elkmont Red Devils took the court against East Limestone last night less than 24 hours after a hard fought game vs the top ranked 2A Tanner Rattlers.  In a close back and forth game that wasn't decided until the final 50 seconds, the East Limestone Indians won 62 - 55.

The game started out with Cole Glass tipping the ball to Skyler Gant who made a quick pass to Hayden Huseth that led to an easy layup.  The first play was a textbook easy score. Elkmont went into its aggressive 2-3 defense that has been very effective against most teams this year.  East had a difficult time scoring and Daniel Logan knocked down 2 three pointers, making the score 9-2 with 4:01 left  in the quarter.  East Limestone pushed back and the first quarter ended 13-13.

The second quarter was a back and forth battle with both teams playing tough defense, every rebound fought for.  The Red Devils played a good first half with only 4 turnovers.  Daniel Logan had 8 points, Skyler Gant, 6 and Cole Glass, 5 at the half and trailed the Indians by one, 25-26.

Elkmont continued to play good interior defense in the third quarter.  However, East shot a higher percentage and switched to what looked to be a modified 1-2-2 (quirky defense) that the Red Devils had trouble adjusting offensively to counter.  It effectively cut down the Elkmont post play and the offense stalled.  Daniel Logan tossed in another 3 pointer to make it 30-31 at 4:36.   It took another 2 minutes for the score to reach 36 - 33, Indians.  At the end of quarter, East Limestone still led the Red Devils 42-38.

Defense was still the name of the game with almost every play being challenged in the fourth.  Skyler Gant went to the bench at 6:44 and the Devil offense got out of sync and started to have problems moving the ball.   It took Elkmont more than three minutes to score 3 points but they managed to keep it close with 4:55 left in the game; score 45 - 41.  East then went on a run and pushed the score to 50-41 at 3:37.  Elkmont's starting five were back on the court and started to regroup when a Red Devil was fouled on a shot.  The players got nose to nose and stared at each other and a double technical was called (neither player was really sure why - preemptive whistle?).  Logan sank two free throws in the exchange but East Limestone got the ball.   As the time ticked down, Elkmont found themselves playing catch up with two minutes left.  The Devils stretched the defense out, took chances and made a run.  Logan sank a three at 1:20 pulling the score to 54-48.   Cutting the lead to five at .59 and then by 4 at .58, it looks like Elkmont might be able to overtake the Indians but some crucial mistakes were made.  The team missed opportunities to foul  Adam Saylor (struggled making free throws), often enough as the East player to be sent to the line.  Unfortunately, the Devils fouled #11, Chris Harris, who had no problem making free throws, sinking 5 of 6 in the last minute.  This led to a misleading score of 62-52 for a very close game.  Matthew Barnes sank a three pointer at the buzzer to end the game with 62 - 55.

The leading scorers for Elkmont were Daniel Logan with 16 points and 8 rebounds, Skyler Gant with 13 points and 5 assists and Hayden Huseth rounded out the top 3 scorers with 9.  East Limestone's top two players in double digits were Chris Harris with 28 and Adam Saylor with 16 points.  The Elkmont Red Devils will be traveling to Seymour, Tennessee to play next week, Dec. 27-29.  The Hill Spirit will be traveling to the tournament so look for game updates.

Staff Reporter:  Hill Spirit

Photos: Down Home Portraits/ Casey Newport

Look for the Dust Devil at the Gym's weekly article later this week

ELKMONT VS EAST LIMESTONE – DEC 20, 2011

	PTS	FOUL	REB	AST		STL	BLK	2FG	2FGA	3FG	3FGA	FT	FTA	OFF REB	DEF REB
GUEST	62	23										14	27
HOME	55	18	26	8		3	2	7	17	7	22	20	29	6	20
HOME	PTS		REB	AST		STL	BLK	2FG	2FGA	3FG	3FGA	FT	FTA	OFF REB	DEF REB
GLASS	6	5	6	0		0	2	2	4	0	0	2	4	0	6
LOGAN	16	5	8	1		2	0	1	3	4	9	2	3	3	5
GANT	13	1	5	5		0	0	3	8	0	0	7	9	1	4
HUSETH	9	3	1	1		0	0	1	1	1	8	4	6	0	1
LaBATHE	5	2	2	1		1	0	0	1	0	1	5	7	1	1
WALES	3	1	4	0		0	0	0	0	1	3	0	0	1	3
BARNES	3	1	0	0		0	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	0
THOMAS	0	0	0	0		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
WEAVER	0	0	0	0		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

3FG =      7/22         32%

2FG =      7/17         41%

FT   =    20/29         70%

TURNOVERS:  15