Apparently last week’s severe winter weather had a deeper impact than Carroll Academy boys basketball Coach Tommy Acy could foresee.
After a week off after rolling through the Class AAA North State Tournament, the Rebels went cold in the opening round of the Class AAA State Tournament, falling 66-39 to Riverside on Tuesday at Oak Hill.
The Rebels finish the season with a 16-4 record.
The Rebels seemed primed for another run at the title game after rolling through the district and north state tournaments.
“I told the boys after the game that it just wasn’t meant to be,” Acy said. “That’s the one thing that I was really worried about. We were so hot after winning district and North State. And then we were off almost a week. Apparently it cooled us off. It just wasn’t our day.”
Riverfield opened the game as they led 16-9 at the end of the first period and then outscored the Rebels 22-5 in the second period to take a commanding 38-14 at the half. Things didn’t get any better in the third period as Riverfield outscored Carroll 23-14 to take a 61-28 going into the fourth. Carroll took the fourth period 11-5 for the final margin.
“I can’t take anything away from Riverfield,” Acy said. “They shot the ball extremely well. They couldn’t miss and it seems like we couldn’t get anything to fall. And they played us good man-to-man defense. Their coach told me before the game they they had been in the gym since Wednesday and I thought we were in trouble.”
Brennan Blaylock led the Rebels with 12 points while Hunter Grantham had nine points and 12 rebounds. Mathis Beck also had nine points for the Rebels.
“I told the team after the game that they didn’t have anything to be ashamed of,” Acy said. “We lost four starters off of last year’s team and made it farther than anybody expected us to. We came together and played really well at the end of the year. It just wasn’t our day today. I hate it ended that way but it’s just one of those things. I don’t like the loss but I can’t be disappointed about the season we had."
