CULLMAN – Point guard Lawson Schaffer tossed in 23 points while his backcourt mate Seth Swalve added 16 in leading the Cullman Bearcats to a 65-48 victory over the Priceville Bulldogs Thursday night in the championship game of the Cullman Parks and Recreation Summer Basketball League.
The duo that keyed a 24-8 season for Cullman in 2013-14, accounted for 17 of the 38 points the team scored in the second half to break open a tight contest between the top two teams in this summer league that took to the floor at the Cullman Aquatics Center for the month of June.
Cullman was up by only a 27-22 margin on Priceville when the second half began. With Schaffer and Swalve getting the offense into a flow from their up tempo style of play, Cullman pushed the lead to double figures and Priceville was never able to stay with them as the final half moved on.
Cullman had seven other players to score in supporting the 39 combined by Schaffer and Swalve. Chase Slocomb added five to the total, Jason McAffee hit six, Nic Handley scored five, Gage Goodwin and Fletcher Reeling three while Joseph Franey scored two.
Marc McClendon got eight points for Priceville, but was held well under his season average. The star forward for the Bulldogs managed just only a field goal in the opening 20 minutes.
Holly Pond Broncos captured third place in the league by turning back the Cold Springs Eagles 45-36. The key in this game was the Bronco defense as they shut down the potent Eagle attack, allowing them only 14 points in the second half after the game was close at the break with Holly Pond ahead 23-22.
Austin Smith's 14 points led the way for the Broncos who finished 6-2 in the summer league. Matt Cahoon scored nine while Cody Jones delivered eight, Bailey Smith and Drew Jones flipped in five.
The Eagles' Triston Chambers ripped the cords for 14, but managed to score one field goal in the second half. He was the only double figure scorer for Cold Springs. The Eagles made only four shots in the second half, two from downtown.
Hanceville enjoyed a 61-58 victory in sudden death over Fairview. Issac Weissend hit a trey from the right wing in sudden death after the two battled to a 58-58 tie in regulation and remained even at 58-58 following a one-minute overtime period.
A 24-point performance from point guard Xavier Malcom saw the floor leader score seven shots from 3-point range. Weissend and Jose Orozco added nine and Dante' Reese along with Christian Sellers accounted for eight.
Leading Fairview was guard Austin Fletcher with 19, 15 of his points coming in the first half. Center Tyler Yearwood collected 16 with five field goals and was six of six from the foul line.
The final night of the summer league began with Corner getting by J.B. Pennington in the seventh place game in sudden death, 48-46. Dillon McCaleb had 24 points for Corner with the game winner coming on a drive to the hoop.
For the Tigers, Dylan Shook fired in 19 with point guard Christian Baker delivering 12.
