TONY STINNETT, Courier Co-Editor
Wednesday, December 8, 2010 4:41 am
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East Side eighth-grader Jake Hoskins stumbled into it with a career-high 38 points to lead his team to a 57-34 win against Woodbury Grammar in the quarterfinals of the 2010 Cannon County Cancer Tournament at WGS Tuesday.
Hoskins connected on 14-of-17 shots to reserve East Side a spot against top-seeded and unbeaten Woodland Thursday at 5:15 at Woodbury Grammar School. How special was Hoskins' night? He outscored the entire Cubs team (38-34) and he scored more points than there are minutes (24) in a game.
"We were really getting a lot of layups and it helps playing on a bigger court like this one because when you are on offense it spreads out the floor and opens up holes to drive through," Hoskins said. "I felt real confident shooting, but I didn't shoot many jumpers, mainly layups. I guess I was hitting the shots I needed to hit."
Austin Brock also reached double figures with 15 points. Chandler Todd led Woodbury Grammar with 13 points. Jacob King had double figures in rebounds with 10.
Hoskins knocked down his only 3-point attempt and the remainder of his attempts were within 5 feet. He missed just three shots during the offensive outburst.
"This is the best team we've had in the last three years so it was special to me for us to win a game in this tournament," Hoskins said. "We have not been able to win a tournament game the last couple years so this is special and it's exciting to know we are playing in the semifinals."
East Side took control of the game from the outset and grabbed an early 15-4 advantage during the first quarter with Hoskins and Brock doing most of the damage. The East Side defense and size, led by hulking center Allan Robinson, controlled the boards and never allowed Woodbury to mount a threat.
WEST SIDE 42
SHORT MOUNTAIN 10
West Side made quick work of Short Mountain in a 42-10 win in its tune-up for a semifinal showdown against Auburn Thursday at 7:45.
West Side jumped out to a 30-0 first-quarter lead and coasted to the win; however, a young Short Mountain team produced a respectable showing and continues to show improvement against more experienced teams.
Turner Gragg led West Side with 14 points. Josh Williams, Dustin Kilgore, Sam Sissom and Jake Burdick each scored eight, and Jacob Nave finished with six in a balanced West Side attack. West Side connected on 13 consecutive field goal attempts to start the game. It led 42-5 at the half and reserves saw all of the action in the final half as coach Roger Haley emptied his bench.
Chris Young led Short Mountain with seven points, including a long 3-pointer in the fourth quarter that drew the roaring approval of the crowd.