When Ben Chuttey gets hot from beyond the arc, the energy is palpable, said Nation Ford head coach Charles Brown.
Everyone in the gym felt that energy Wednesday night, as Chuttey nailed seven of his team’s 12 3-pointers in a 77-55 rout of Spartanburg in the first round of the Class 5A state tournament.
The junior wing totaled a career-high 28 points to guide the Falcons into a second-round matchup 6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 17 against T.L. Hanna. The Yellow Jackets defeated their first-round opponent Clover on Wednesday night 62-60.
“When he comes out and proves it,” Brown said. “When he’s hitting it, everyone’s more confident.”
The Falcons improved to 14-12 and entered the playoffs as a No. 2 seed out of Region III, while the Vikings entered the postseason as a No. 4 seed from Region II.
The Falcons had a dream start to the game, with Chuttey and Jackson Burnham, who scored 15 points, combining for five 3-pointers in the opening six minutes to take a 17-7 lead.
The best shot of the opening quarter came from Burnham on a pull-up jumper at the end of the period. The shooter took the ball with less than six seconds on the clock, hit a spin move on a defender, and sank a long two-pointer at the buzzer to earn a 21-7 lead.
Nation Ford didn’t slow down in the second quarter. Matthew Middlekauf, Chuttey, and Burnham all hit treys to extend the lead to as many as 27 just before halftime.
Caden Giles, who scored six points, showed off his defensive talents with a swat-block on the defensive end, leading to Middlekauf’s open shot from the right wing.
The Falcons enjoyed a 15-2 run through the middle of the second quarter to give the home fans plenty to cheer about.
By halftime, Nation Ford had tallied eight 3-pointers, with Chuttey accounting for four.
Brown subbed in many of his second-string players, but Spartanburg fought back with a vengeance in a 28-point third quarter. Down by 32, the Vikings finished the final three minutes of the third quarter with a 24-6 run that included 17 points by Johnston Abrams to cut the lead to 58-44 at the end of the third.
The run was spurred by Abrams’ three straight treys to kick off the run, as well as a pair of almost identical plays where a Spartanburg player stole the ball and pushed the ball back up to a fellow Viking for a simple 1v1 or a layup.
But Brown’s starters turned the jets back on to nail seven unanswered buckets to start the fourth quarter and extend their lead. Spartanburg got more and more desperate to close the gap, leaving plenty of open space for Burnham, Falkner, and others to prey upon on the other end. Chuttey hit his sixth and seventh treys of the night back-to-back midway through the final frame.
“Every time I got the ball,” Chuttey said. “Every time it left my hands, I knew it was going in. I have great teammates who found me, and it’s a great team win.”
By the time the final buzzer rang, Spartanburg had scored just two 3-pointers in the final quarter. Brown gave his starters another rest with about 1:40 left on the clock.
“I feel like it’s a big first game,” Chuttey said. “We’re not finished. We feel like we can make a run. We need to show who we’re like at Nation Ford.”
