Turnovers and foul trouble hurt the Coffee County Central Red Raiders at home Tuesday night as the Raiders dropped their District 6-4A opener – 65-55 to the Rebels of Franklin County.
Coffee County trailed by 9 at halftime and managed to cut the deficit to 4 on three separate occasions in the second half, including at the end of the third quarter when they trailed 36-32. But they were unable to get any closer and the Rebels were good enough at the free-throw line to keep the lead.
Coffee County turned the ball over 20 times on the night, which helped the Rebels score enough in transition. The Rebels also went to the free throw line 42 times, finishing 26-of-42. The Raiders were 17-of-29 at the line as both teams combined to go to the line 71 times.
Coffee County was led by Aidan Abellana, who battled through cramps to finish with 17 points. He was named the Thunder Radio Broadcast Stone Fort Mortgage Player of the Game.
Connor Shemwell added 13 and Phineas Rollman 10. Rollman, Brady Nugent and Dayne Crosslin all fouled out for the Raiders in the loss.
Shamar Lyons scored a game-high 21 points.
THIS GAME WAS BROADCAST LIVE ON THUNDER RADIO! CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO OUR BROADCAST REPLAY.
The loss drops Coffee County to 9-7 overall and 0-1 in District 6-4A play. The Raiders play again Friday in Warren County. Tip is set for 6 p.m. for the girls with the boys to follow. If you plan to attend in person, you will need to purchase tickets digitally at gofan.co or by clicking here.
Thunder Radio will be there for the broadcast at 107.9 FM, 1320 AM, 106.7 FM, Manchester Go app and thunder1320.com.
Andrew Taylor 
Connor Shemwell 
Aidan Abellana 
Dayne Crosslin 
Brady Nugent
