Boys Basketball Team Dribbles Their Way Back Home: Season Wrap-Up

The General’s 2021 Varsity Boys Basketball team got off to a hot start this year with a win against Murray County (64-59). They followed that with three tough losses against Coahulla Creek, East Ridge, and LFO but bounced back with a three-game win streak, beating Ridgeland (56-47), Cedartown (57-42), and Pickens County (56-31). The rest of the season was up-and-down with a big win against county rivals, Ringgold (51-47), balanced by a tough loss to Lafayette (43-42), among others. The Generals also had close wins against Dade County (54-48), Southeast Whitfield (58-47), and, once again, Pickens (49-46). The boys ended up finishing their hard-fought season as the #5 seed in the region, falling to the #4 seed, Pickens, in the first round of the Region tournament. The team ended the season with an overall record of 9-14.

 Several players, in looking back over the season, identified different games as the highlights of the year. Senior Ty Loveless said that it was “probably Ringgold.” “It’s just a good atmosphere every time we play there,” he explained. Senior Ryan Heet, though, thought that “the best game was against Lafayette even though we lost.” “Everybody played a good game,” he said, “and we played as a team.” Senior Carson Green also had a different opinion, arguing that the best game this year was actually “Cedartown at home.” “We played really well that game on both sides of the ball,” said Green, noting that “we hit some shots and pulled off the win.” All three seniors also shared how impressed they were by freshman Kaleb Gallman. Green said that “he’s got a really bright future” while senior Ryan Heet exclaimed, “He’s gonna be really good!” Ty Loveless mentioned Kaleb as well, saying that “he has a lot of potential and he’s gonna have a bright future.” 

As Coach Terry noted, the Generals “graduated eight guys off the Region Championship team from last year.” Despite a lack of varsity experience at the beginning of the season, Terry said, “this year’s squad was an amazing group of guys and worked hard throughout the year.” Terry highlighted the fact that, despite “some growing pains and a season of ups-and-downs,” the Generals this year were “very good on the defensive end of the floor.” “We made it very difficult for opponents to score on us,” he said, and “our scoring defense was second in the league behind Central, the region champs.” 

Reflecting on the season overall, Coach Terry said that “although we didn’t have the kind of success we were hoping for this season in terms of wins or making the state playoffs, we did improve along the way and got some much needed experience.” “Hopefully,” he noted, “that hard work and experience will pay off next season as most of the guys will be returning. The future looks very bright for Generals basketball!”