11/9/2021: The Cottage School Cougars travelled to Atlanta, GA to take on the Cristo Rey Flames. Cristo Rey is a GISA AAA school member and last year were region one runner-up in their conference. Facing an athletic bunch and a rowdy crowd it took about a half for TCS to settle down before pulling away for the 51-37 victory.
With just seven Cougars dressed out to play, TCS had to play fundamentally sound on both ends of the floor. Unfortunately, that was only the case on one end-defensively. Cristo Rey forced Cottage into 18 first half turnovers and corralled 18 offensive rebounds. Reading these statistics, one would assume the Cougars had a mountain to climb however, the mix of effort on defense and the Flames poor shooting percentage; at intermission the scoreboard read 18-18.
With a half behind them, the Cougars calmed down and played with great poise in the third frame. Cottage only turned the ball over three times and gave up zero offensive rebounds over those eight minutes and went on an 18 to 10 run for a 36-28 lead. Matter of fact, TCS had a 33-19 second half, controlling both ends of the floor and winning 51-37.
Next up is their first matchup with AAC rival, the AASD Panthers. It is the first time these two have played since their 2019 championship game because AASD chose not to play in 2020, due to Covid-19.
Games Notes
Alex Hogg dominated the paint with his presence. He finished with 17 points, 11 boards, 5 blocked shots, and added 3 assists.
Aidan Briggs put in 22 points and corralled 9 rebounds. He also took two charges and gathered 5 assists.
Jackson Barnes stepped up big. The freshman scored 6 points and had 5 rebounds. His played a huge part in shutting down the Flames offense.
