S

On Friday, the Coffee County Red Raiders played their third game in as many days and dropped a close one to the Dyersburg Trojans at the Jeff Taylor Classic in Tullahoma. 

The game was a fast-paced, high scoring first quarter to start, with Coffee County going out in front 24-20.

Scoring slowed down a bit in the second quarter as the Trojans outscored the Red Raiders 17-13, but the two teams were deadlocked at 37-37 going into halftime.

Dyersburg edged ahead in the third quarter, outscoring Coffee 15-13 for a 52-50 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

The Red Raiders were down by one point with a minute to go, and as the clock whittled down in the fourth quarter, the Trojans were able to hit a free throw to stay ahead, 61-59 with 18 seconds left. 

The Trojans missed the next one and the Red Raiders rebounded the ball with 11 seconds left. 

The Red Raiders couldn’t inbound the ball cleanly at their own end of the court and the Trojans stole it away, being fouled quickly afterwards.

Dyersburg missed the free throw attempt and Coffee County’s Courtland Ferrar was able to draw a foul on a three point shot attempt on the other end. 

However, Ferrar only made one free throw and the Red Raiders lost 61-60. 

“Overall, I thought we played pretty well,” said Coach Andrew Taylor. “In the end it came down to one possession, and they got one more than we did. Considering that this is our third game in three days, I’m very proud of how we battled back. Next week in Alabama, We’ve got an opportunity to get better and try and clean up some of our mistakes before jumping into district play.”

Scoring for the Red Raiders were Jackson Shemwell with 21 points, Cooper Reed with 15 points, Jayden Carter with 12 points, Courtland Ferrar with five points, Cayden Trail with four points and Brady Wright with three points.

The Red Raiders are now 6-8 on the season and will hit the road for Scottsboro, Alabama next week as they take part in the Don Webb Classic starting on Wednesday, Dec. 27.