Most all basketball fans are well aware of the Harlem Globetrotters.  The legendary group of players has thrilled their fans with unbelievable passes, pin point alley-oops, and thunderous dunks throughout the years.

For stretches on Friday night, the Beech boys basketball team looked as if they were stealing some of the Globetrotters patented moves as they cruised past Portland 63-17 on Senior Night.

The seven seniors on the squad were honored before the game: Rob Chamberlain, Ryne Chamberlain, Nathan Hansen, Kyle Hood, Toby Lee, Seth Brown and CJ Cummings.

With the win, the Bucs improved to 19-6 on the season and 8-4 in District 9-AAA play.

Toby Lee led the team with 11 points, while teammate Ryne Chamberlain also finished in double figures scoring 10 points. Eleven different players scored in the win for Beech.

After dropping a tough contest to rival Hendersonville last week, the Bucs have put together back to back wins over Mt. Juliet and now Portland.

“Usually over the years, we haven’t done a lot of dunks and alley-oops, but this year we have a lot of guys that can really jump and have the ability to do that,” said Beech head coach Darrin Joines.

“I think that stretch of play really got the crowd into it and of course the players were fired up as well.”

That stretch that Joines was referring to, came in the second quarter, as the Bucs had ESPN highlight worthy dunks on three straight possessions.

On the first sequence of plays, Toby Lee got his own rebound and slammed it home with a two handed jam.  Next up was CJ Cummings, who skied for the emphatic dunk in front of a Panther defender.

Next up was Justin Coleman, who was on the receiving end of an alley-oop, which absolutely brought the house down and sent a friendly reminder that a win was not in the cards for the Panthers on this night.

Coleman also had an acrobatic one handed putback with one second left in the half that sent the team into the locker room with scores on five straight trips down the floor.

Beech led 5-0 early on, and after a three pointer from Portland that cut the score to 5-3, the Bucs went on a 9-0 run to push their lead to 14-3.

Baskets from Rob Chamberlain, Nathan Hansen and Lee helped push the lead to double figures.

The home team led 14-6 headed into the second quarter, but this is when things went south in a hurry for the Panthers.

The Buccaneer defense was relentless, and almost unscored upon for the next eight minutes, allowing just one field goal. The 21-2 run by Beech put the game out of reach, pushing the lead to 35-8 headed into the locker room at the midway point.

“I think in the second quarter, things really went our way,” said Joines.

“In basketball games, that can happen very quickly. We were hitting some big shots on offense and then creating stops on the defensive end and we were able to seize control of the game there.”

Beech out scored the Panthers 11-6 in the third quarter.

Kyle Hood, Chamberlain, and Lee all hit shots from three-point land to account for the scoring in the quarter.

The fourth quarter was all Bucs as they dominated, outscoring the Panthers  17-3.

Sam Landrith tossed in six points and Parker Henry added five points to pace the late scoring.

BEECH: (63)  Toby Lee 11, Ryne Chamberlain 10, CJ Cummings 6, Sam Landrith 6, Justin Coleman 6, Seth Brown 6, Parker Henry 5, Kyle Hood 5, Rob Chamberlain 4, Nathan Hansen 2, Drew Pentecost 2.

Halftime: Beech 35-8; Records: Beech 18-6 (7-4).

by Ethan Greer