After last week’s win over Elbert County, Madison County headed into the weekend at Cedar Shoals with some confidence, but Madison County fell short as Cedar Shoals held off the Red Raiders to take a 59-43 win.
According to coach Steve Crouse, two things made the difference in the game – flat perimeter shooting and needless turnovers. The Red Raiders went up against Cedar Shoal’s 2-3 zone defense and couldn’t push through to the inside. Madison County hit three of 21 shots from the outside, and Crouse said that if the team was forced to take the shots it could get and if they could have made a few more from the outside they might have opened up the Cedar Shoals defense enough to get inside.
“We had some good looks, but we just played flat all night long,” Crouse said. “We did a fair job rebounding, but needless turnovers hurt us.”
Madison County had the lead in the second quarter, but a couple of turnovers opened the door for Cedar Shoals to take over. Madison County cut the deficit to one point later on, but the very athletic Cedar Shoals team pulled back ahead.
This week, Madison County played at Hart County on Tuesday where the red Raiders fought to the wire in the 61-54 defeat.
“They are a well coached team and we played them last year and they played well again,” Crouse said.
The Red Raiders had fought back from a 24-point deficit to draw within three points during the second half. Missing some late game free throws that could possibly have changed the outcome, Madison County lost by seven points.
With the sting of defeat twice as strong, the Red Raiders have more of a reason to defeat traditional rival Franklin County this Friday night at home.
Coach Crouse said he is looking forward to the game that starts at 8:30 p.m.
“I’m looking forward to it, Madison and Franklin are traditional rivals and I’m hoping to see a big crowd on Friday.”
Franklin County is very disciplined in half-court play and also well coached, according to Crouse. In the past four meetings, both sides have picked up two games, with the Red Raiders winning the last contest 76-69. Franklin County is 3-3 coming into Friday’s game.
After the home game Friday night, Madison County goes back on the road to play at Elbert County on Saturday. An earlier start time, requested by Elbert County leaves the boys starting tip-off at 5:30 p.m. Already this season, Madison County has defeated Elbert, breaking a losing streak against the Blue Devils last week.
