Crestview boys fall short in Blowout title game

FREEPORT – Crestview’s bid to become the first Florida team since 1999 to win the 17th Annual Hilton Sandestin Beach Basketball Blowout came up six points short Friday.

Led by Matt Case’s 39-point effort Cookeville, Tenn., beat the Bulldogs 70-64 to claim the tournament championship.

“They were better than we were,” Crestview coach Keith White said of Cookeville. “They kept fighting. They wanted it more than we did.

“They played hard for four quarters and we played hard for about a quarter-and-a-half. They were well coached and well disciplined and they were better than us tonight.”

Case, the Most Valuable Player of the tournament, wasted no time in establishing himself as the go-to guy for the Cavaliers, as he hit a 3-pointer 12 seconds into the game and scored eight of Cookeville’s first 11 points.

Case’s first trey was followed by a Ronnie Baylark score that put the Bulldogs (9-3) on the scoreboard with 32 seconds gone in the game.

Case hit another bomb and Crestview answered with an old fashioned 3-point play by Denzel Ware as the teams felt each other out.

The Cavs led 13-7 midway through the first period when Crestview went on an 11-4 run to take the lead.

Almost every Bulldog player on the floor got into the act during the run that started with a Greg Burden basket and ended with a Baylark score off a steal.

Crestview continued to play well throughout most of the second quarter building a 35-24 advantage with 1:44 left in the half.

Jonathan Buckelew came off the bench to lead the Bulldog charge as he scored five points. Justin Cline, Antryun Coleman and Baylark each had four points in the period.

But Case refused to let the Cavs die. After scoring 10 points in the first quarter Case came back and added nine points in the second including a 3-pointer late in the period that pulled Cookeville to within three points a 35-32.

Just as he did in the first quarter, Case hit a 3-pointer 12 seconds into the third quarter to start another Cavalier outburst.

Case’s bucket tied the game a 35-35.

A Ware basket with 6:25 left in the third quarter put the Bulldogs back in front 37-35, but Case again answered with a 3-pointer with 5:52 left in the quarter to put Cookeville in front once and for all.

Two free throws by Trey Henderson with 3:33 left in the third gave the Cavs their biggest lead of the second half at 47-39.

A basket by Jerry Aaron with 15 seconds left in the third quarter cut the Cookeville advantage to 49-47. But once again it was Case responding, this time with a 4-point play to put the Cavs up 53-47 as the quarter ended.

Coleman led a Crestview charge in the fourth quarter that saw the Bulldogs whittle the Cav lead down to a point only to see Case hit another 3-pointer.

The Bulldogs did get to within two points of the Cavs when Coleman scored on a fast break with 4:04 left in the game but the game belonged to Case and Cookeville as the Cavaliers held on for the win.

Henderson joined Case in double figures with 16 points and also was named to the all-tournament team.

Coleman, who led the Bulldogs with 20 points, was named to the all-tournament team. Baylark scored 14 and Cline 11.

Bulldog coach Keith White could only shake his head when talking about Case’s big night.

“He made every shot he threw up,” White said. “He hit them off of screens, falling away, everything he threw up went in.

“He had a great night. He was in a zone. He just threw it up there and it went in.”

White was a little harder on his team.

“We’ve got a long way to go,” he said. “We are not champions yet. Our goal that we wrote in the paper at the beginning of the year was to be champions and we haven’t got there yet.”