In spite of defeat, Arendt upbeat about season
Fountain City — Even in defeat, Hardin Valley Academy boys basketball coach Andy Arendt had high praise for his team.
“I’m excited about our team this season,” Arendt said after the Hawks came up on the short end of a 75-58 decision at Knoxville Central Thursday night in the 2025-26 season opener for both teams. “We’re a young team and we did some good things.
“And they’re a really good and well-coached basketball team.”
The Bobcats (1-0) may have nabbed a seemingly lopsided victory, but it was Hardin Valley that got off to a fast start as Kristian Oliver made five 3-pointers in the opening quarter, enabling the Hawks to seize the upper hand early. They were clinging to a slim 17-13 advantage late in the frame before Central closed things out in the first quarter with a 7-1 run. The surge allowed the Bobcats to take a 20-18 lead.
And from there, Central never surrendered the lead.
“They have some good shooters and they started off fast and we were
able to withstand that,” Central first-year coach JP Payne said. “I think they got ahead, 17-13, and then we got the lead and we never gave it up after we started doing a better job finding the shooter.”
Oliver led the Hawks (0-1) with 19 points as he knocked down six long-range jumpers and converted a free throw, but the Bobcats were able to keep him at bay and off the scoreboard after halftime.
After closing out the first quarter with a modest surge, Central outscored Hardin Valley, 20-9, in the second stanza and open a 40-27 advantage by halftime.
The Bobcats forced HVA into multiple turnovers. They also dominated the glass on their way to giving Payne his first win as their head coach.
Arendt tipped his hat to
Central.
“They were just the more physical and tougher team tonight, but that being said, I’m excited about our team,” he said. “We start a freshman and we have three sophomores, a junior and three seniors.
“And it’s all freshmen and sophomores from there, so I’m excited.”
Graham Collerdo was the only other HVA player to
post double figures in the
scoring column as he finished with 10 points. Kymani Smith had seven points for the Hawks, who pulled to within nine points on two occasions in the fourth quarter. Hunter Ratliff and Blake Crawford tallied six points each for
the Hawks.
Griffin Odom led Central with 18 points while D.J. Smith and Parker Hampton added 17 points each.
