Cougars move to 5-0 in the AAC with 44-33 tight win over the Cobras
12/13/23: The Cottage School Cougars played host to the CORE Community School Cobras in another AAC battle on Wednesday night. Both teams went back in forth throughout the contest with no certainty of who was going to come out on top. TCS finally found a way to go on a late run to end the game to remain undefeated in conference play at 5-0 with the 44-33 victory.
With just over five minutes remaining, CORE led 29-28. The Cougars threw the ball inside on the right-side block to Colin Barlow. In one quick motion, he turned left, and the right-hander swished a left-handed hook that brought roars through the Cougar Center. It seems the highlight move stunned the Cobras because TCS never looked back. They went on a 16-4 run over the final five minutes for the 44-33 win.
It was not the only ESPN highlight of the night by a Cougar. Maxwell Lagan put an exclamation point at the end with a fancy baseline, one-handed, reverse “And-1” layup! If not for a CORE foul, it appeared Lagan was going for a fancy reverse dunk. That foul slowed him down, which made for an incredible finish, imitating the infamous Dr. J signature reverse almost 40 years ago. For fans that missed it, go on Facebook to witness the grace in which Maxwell displayed!
From the tip, the Cobras defense stifled the home team. It was not until after the first four minutes of the contest before Cottage scored their first basket. Thankfully for them, it was a defensive gem at that point as that bucket gave TCS their only lead of the contest until mid-fourth quarter, ahead 2-1.
CORE reclaimed the lead with a three pointer, up 4-2 and did not look back all night until the end. The Cobras could never pull away but did go up as much as six points and were ahead 29-24 going into the fourth frame. If not for the focus on defense and Barlow’s smooth jump hook, the outcome could have been different for Cottage.
The Cougars will finish 2023 with two more home games, the first Friday night versus the GHSA Cross Keys High School Indians. The last time these two teams met here, it went down to a buzzer beater win for the home team. Next Wednesday, the Cougars will host the North GA Falcons.
Game Notes:
Maxwell Lagan put in 17 points, had 8 rebounds, and 5 blocked shots with 0 turnovers!
Andrew Dorsey had a tough start but played a key role in that 16-4 4th quarter run. He scored 6 of his 11 points during those final five minutes, adding 4 boards, 4 assists, and 3 steals.
Colin Barlow did not boast a huge stat line, but for those that understand basketball witnessed a young man completely change the game’s momentum. Barlow’s go-head basket, stated above, jumpstarted the Cougar rally and he did it on both ends. Colin put in 7 points, had 5 rebounds, and 4 big-time blocked shots.
Jack Kane would admit he had one of his worst, if not worse offensive night in his career. What do great team players do when they struggle to score…help their team somewhere else. His effort on defense was outstanding and collected 6 steals (career high) in the process. Jack finished with those 6 steals, 5 rebounds, 4 points, and 2 blocks.