Cedar Shoals snaps losing streak to rival Clarke Central — with help from a former Gladiator
Cedar Shoals boys basketball bounced back against crosstown rival Clarke Central, winning Saturday 70-67 after the Gladiators won both games in the series last season.
The Jaguars did it with the help of a former Clarke Central player.
Senior guard Robert Mack scored 24 points after transferring to Cedar Shoals following last season.
"It's not easy to be that guy that went from one school to another, and then you've got to play your old team," said Cedar Shoals coach Dreco Thomas. "Some guys press and some guys try to do to much in that game, but I thought he played well within the system. At the end of the day, I think he used that as an edge and he played a tremendous game tonight.
"He's one of us."
The Jaguars' roster features 10 seniors, creating an advantage in tense situations like rivalry matchups and close contests down the stretch.
"All those guys last year weathered those two games (lost to Clarke Central), and they learned a lot from those two games, and they knew then they were good enough to beat them," Thomas said. "So now I got the same guys back and they're a year older and a year wiser and now they're veterans and they're helping the young guys. It means a lot when you got guys that have been in the rivalry, who understand what it takes and understand that they're the better team."
The veterans had help from underclassmen. Sophomore guard Devin 'D.J.' Hubbard added 15 points and sophomore forward Daniel Hollis had several dunks that got the crowd on their feet.
Junior Marcus Gillespie paced Clarke Central with a game-high 34 pts and Laneric Gill chipped in 18.
The Clarke Central girls team won 34-21 over Cedar Shoals earlier in the day, led by freshman guard Justice Monroe with 11 points and junior forward Genesis Wallace with 12 rebounds. The victory marked the Gladiators girls team's second win in the past eight games against their rival and first since 2020.
“(The rivalry) is always huge for the teams, for the community,” Clarke Central coach Carla Johnson said. “We’ve been on the other end of it for the last few years, so it was good the girls were excited, came focused. We played last night out of town, so it was a quick turnaround to come back in this morning and be focused, be ready.
“But this morning, when we met at the gym, they were ready to go and energetic. They stayed locked in during this game, very proud of the team, it was a good team effort, even from the bench … a good team win.”
Cedar Shoals plays Habersham Central on Tuesday, Dec. 19, while Clarke Central goes on holiday break until Dec. 28.
This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Cedar Shoals basketball, led by Robert Mack, beats Clarke Central
