Forest earns dominant win over South Lake

Forest guard Tico Smith (0) defends against South Lake’s Austin Cruz during Tuesday night’s game. [Photo by Mark Pinson]

Forest coach Mike Hoffman challenged his team to execute better before Tuesday night’s home game against South Lake. Consider the challenge accepted. Forest knocked down nine 3-pointers and placed three players in double figures in a convincing 71-49 win over the Eagles.

The victory improved the Class 6A Wildcats to 7-1 on the season.

“It was a fun game to watch,” said Hoffman. “When you play really hard, and you play with intensity and execute a game plan like we did tonight, it makes it fun to coach. We challenged the kids to keep their foot on the gas the whole night and I thought we did that.”

Forest came out hot from the opening tip as senior center Isaac Timmons scored six of his 10 points in the paint, guard Tico Smith poured in 10 of his 17 points and Chandler Davison connected on back-to-back 3-pointers as the Wildcats jumped out to a 27-15 lead heading to the second quarter.

“We executed the way we wanted to and got some good looks at the basket,” Hoffman said. “I love Isaac’s aggressiveness. He has come a long way since he was a freshman and has really improved.”

South Lake (Groveland) stayed in the game thanks to center Isaiah Pina, who scored 14 of his team-high 17 points in the first half. The Class 6A Eagles, who dropped to 8-2 overall, had trouble scoring with any consistency against a swarming Forest defense and trailed by a score of 39-26 at the half.

Forest kept the pressure on in the third quarter as Davison drilled consecutive 3-pointers as part of a game-high 19 points to help the Wildcats increase their lead. Smith buried a trey from the top of the key to make it 57-39 heading to the final eight minutes.

South Lake, which committed 17 turnovers, had no answers for Forest on this night as the Wildcats were able to substitute freely in the final stanza to close out a solid win.

“It was great to see the kids playing well and having fun,” coach Hoffman said. “It was just a really good game for us tonight.”

Forest is traveling to Gatlinburg, TN, and will compete in the Smokey Mountain Classic Thursday through Saturday.

“Our bracket is filled with teams from Kentucky, Georgia, West Virginia and some other states,” Hoffman said. “We’re excited about going up there having some fun and competing against some really good teams.”

Forest center Isaac Timmons (14) scores two of his 10 points over South Lake’s Donte Hubert (30) during the second half of Tuesday night’s game. [Photo by Mark Pinson]