CULLMAN – It was Senior Night at Cullman High School Saturday, and Seth Swalve didn’t disappoint a good crowd on hand to see the latest in the rivalry between the Bearcats and the Holly Pond Broncos.
Swalve came out with an aggressive offensive attack that would tally 36 points for the entire evening and Cullman avoided three straight losses the final week of January, downing the Broncos 71-58.
The Bearcats were sluggish earlier in the week, suffering a pair of 6A, Area 15 losses to Austin and Decatur that knocked them out of regular season title contention.
With Holly Pond in town for a Saturday showdown, the Bearcats executed the game plan to perfection as Swalve was the leader of the group.
The senior put 14 on the scoreboard in the first period, including the go-ahead field goal with less than a minute to go in the stanza as Cullman was up 21-16 after the first.
Free throws by Swalve with 17 seconds to go in the half allowed the Bearcats to enjoy their largest spread at that point in the game, getting ahead of the Broncos by a margin of 33-24.
Swalve had four points in the third with Gage Goodwin getting his shots to fall after not scoring in the first half. Goodwin tallied 11 in the period and Cullman was on top 54-40 with a quarter left to be played.
Holly Pond was carried in the fourth by Matt Cahoon, who would score seven with a three that narrowed the deficit to 61-56 and still 1:50 left on the clock.
Then it was time for Swalve to regain his offensive form. A three-point play pushed the margin to 64-56 at the 1:37 mark and with less than a minute to play, he drove down the middle of the defense for a layup and the score was now 66-55.
Swalve concluded his performance by knocking down two from the line with 15 seconds left and the Bearcats had broken a tough week on the floor and also extended their win streak against the Broncos to three in a row on the season.
Goodwin’s 11 was next in the Cullman scoring. Fletcher Reeling tossed in seven while Nic Handley had six. Cullman is now 17-7 on the season.
Cahoon collected 24 for the Broncos who fell to 18-6. Drew Jones had 12 and Caleb Jones scored 11.
Both teams moved games from Tuesday night to Monday night with severe weather expected on Tuesday. Cullman will play host to Arab on Feb. 1, while Holly Pond gets Good Hope to visit Felton Easterwood Gym the same night.
Holly Pond 62, Cullman 46 (Girls)
Victory was captured by the Lady Broncos in controlling the final five and a half minutes of the game. A 43-41 lead at that time became a 16-point victory on the road for Holly Pond by finishing the contest with a 19-5 advantage.
Ruth Horton, who would lead Holly Pond with 22 points, landed a three with 4:24 to go in extending the lead to 50-43. A minute and a half later, Melissa Clingman drove inside and the visitors were up 54-43, getting control of this game after Cullman gave them a hard challenge.
Clingman would deliver 15 to the total for the Lady Broncos who have won two in a row and are 17-9 with a week left in the regular season.
Taylor Tankersley tossed in seven with Molly Gambrill and Haley Higginbotham netting six apiece.
Cullman was led by seniors Christina Skinner with 14 and Taiya Ponder with 13 points. Anna Evans came on strong with seven of her nine during the fourth quarter.
