Former University of Tennessee fan favorite Ron Slay promised drinks for everyone in the house if he missed his next free throw.
Slay made the shot, and Ray's ESG (2-2) prevailed over ChoiceSpine (0-4) in a 136-129 scorefest in Pilot Rocky Top League action Monday night at Bearden High School.
"I knew I could afford to do it, but I really didn't want to have to,'' said Slay, who plays professionally in Italy. "This was a real big win for us. We got a little sluggish at times, but we had a good five on the floor and everyone knew their roles.''
Everyone's secondary role on Ray's, it seemed, was to try to guard Chris Lofton.
Lofton, the SEC's all-time leading 3-pointer shooter, scored 54 points on 18-of-32 shooting - 8-of-18 beyond the 3-point arc.
"Nobody likes to lose - do you like to lose?'' Lofton said. "I want to finish up next week in the league, I just need to find out for sure when I have to leave for Boston.''
Lofton, who is averaging more than 50 points per game in the Rocky Top League, is playing in the NBA summer league in Boston.
Slay and Ryan Westbrooks led a balanced Ray's team with 21 points, and Steven Pearl scored 20 on 8-of-12 shooting. UT freshman Kenny Hall had 17 and Georgetown transfer Omar Wattad added 16. C.J. Watson of the Golden State Warriors also had 14 for Ray's.
Cameron Tatum (34) and Jordan Dixon (11) were the only other double-figure scorers for ChoiceSpine.
Richardson Construction 122, First Tennessee 119: Tyler Smith (33 points) put the jet lag behind him and took flight, leading Richardson Construction (2-2) to the win over First Tennessee (2-2).
"Monday night I had just come in on a flight, and I was a little weary,'' Smith said. "Tonight, I was back in my routine. I've been getting my shots, but before tonight I had not been taking them. I hadn't been showing what I've been working on.''
Smith was 12-of-26 from the floor, including 5-of-12 beyond the arc.
HT Group 111, News Sentinel 99: Wayne Chism, Boo Jackson and John Primm scored 25 apiece for HT Group (3-1) to derail the previously unbeaten News Sentinel (3-1).
JaJuan Smith led the Sentinel with 32, Scotty Hopson had 26 and Brian Williams had 22. Hopson left the game for a few minutes with a jammed foot, but later returned to action.
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Comments » 12
tnmantravel#531151 writes:
hey kns...
how about an interview with cj watson on if he believe lofton is good enough to be in the nba, remember watson himself is in the nba
tnmantravel#531151 writes:
oops s
MrBamSeydu writes:
"Georgetown transfer Omar Wattad"?
Can you specify where he transferred to because I'm pretty confident he didn't transfer to UT.
golfballs03 writes:
I want to know about Watson's status in the league. Is he going to be back? It looks like Golden State is trading to get Acie Law from the Hawks. I'm not at the games, so I don't really know, but shouldn't CJ be putting up bigger numbers?
chargervol writes:
Chattanooga. I was hoping he would transfer to ETSU, he is from Johnson City and is a regular site at there facilities. GO VOLS!!!
TSNSD4UT writes:
I think that would be Chattanooga.
TSNSD4UT writes:
Sorry I repeated you Charger your comment posted while I was typing.
dcap8424 writes:
CJ has a contract through January '10 with Golden State. as far as i know he hasn't signed anything to extend it. as good as he was doing toward the end of the year last year (including a 38 point performance), i don't see why they wouldn't extend his contract.
i watched him last night. it's pretty obvious that he doesn't exactly play the way he could. i don't blame him, i wouldn't want to chance getting hurt. he also looks to pass it a lot instead of taking open shots.
chargervol writes:
That's alright. It happens to me quite often. I'm not the quickest on the old keypad. I sure would have liked to seen him join Murray Bartow at ETSU. They lost Pigram and Tiggs so they need some offensive firepower. I hope Tennessee can get some better point play this year and better 3-pt. and free throw pcts.. Oh yeah, and a little more defensive effort. GO VOLS!!!
Vol_Jokes writes:
Just wondering how many Memphis players will go in this years draft. Last year we had 3. We've got 4 potential draft pick with Tyreke Evans possibly a top 5 pick.
I'm having trouble remembering how mnay vols were drafted last year? what..none. The year before... what..
This year... ? Oh nevermind.
Also wondering why Memphis keeps pulling in prized and highly ranked recruits with a brand new rookie coach and still playing in cusa while the vols have that wonderful wonderful experienced coach and play in the sec. Just wonder why we're still getting the better players. Anybody know? How bout it ColliervilleVol??
Vol_Jokes writes:
Special Bulletin: Pearl says Knoxville Bible college is 'very' interested in obtaining his services. He'll need a 25% raise if he's going to stay at UT. He mentioned that this is all he has to do to get raises with your current athletic director. If he mentions he may leave he gets a 25% if he says he's coming to Memphis it's a 75% increase.
UTandETSUfan writes:
Mike Smith will carry us. He is a beast.
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