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ROGERSVILLE – Cherokee’s Will Price and Colten McLain combined to score all but five of the Chiefs points but the Grainger Grizzlies were able to pick up a 61-55 win on Tuesday in the final district game for both teams.

Price scored 28 points and McLain had 22 with Grainger’s leading scorers being Drew Branson who finished the contest with 19 points and Brizen Solomon with 12.

The Chiefs had a 17-11 lead after one but Grainger was able climb back into the thick of things and took a one-point lead at 26-25 at the half when Logan Johnson was fouled as time expired and hit both free throws with no time left on the clock. Period number three was close until Branson hit a hoop-and-harm and Kade Williams followed with a regular three-point shot to break a tie and give Grainger a 39-36 lead. The Grizzlies built a nine-point lead to start the fourth period on a Kade Williams bucket but Cherokee struck quickly as Price and McLain combined to score six points in 25 seconds.

The Chiefs whittled the Grainger advantage down to 51-50 midway through the fourth before Grainger took off with an 8-0 run powered mostly by Solomon getting baskets from in the paint. The game was a foul-fest as the two teams combined to go to the charity stripe 53 times which included 13 in the final 1:43 which allowed the Grizzlies to take a 61-55 decision from the Chiefs.

“We couldn’t score a basket when they went to that 3-2 defense,” Chiefs head coach Trey Fields said of Grainger’s ability to pull away when the lead got down to a single point. “We started settling for deep shot after deep shot and we couldn’t get the ball inside or score in transition. That was a great plan by Grainger because we just settled for threes.” Fields was happy with the play of Price and McLain in Tuesday’s tilt with the Grizz. “They are great players and great kids who work hard. The rest of the team knows they have to depend on them. Those two moving forward will be the key for us.”

“Cherokee’s defense was really good as they got up on us and touched a lot of passes and deflected things,” Grainger skipper Adam Wolfenbarger said of the Chief’s big run to get back into the game in the fourth period. “I felt like (Monday night), Cosby out-played us for a little while and then I told the guys tonight at halftime I thought we had weathered the storm and had turned the tide but this was one of those games where you had to attack the basket. We could have pulled away but I think we just decided to throw it up in the stands a few times but I am proud of our guys’ toughness and fight.”

“Brizen played really well against Cosby and he is a guy who has been coming on strong and I hope he’s here now,” Wolfenbarger said of Solomon’s play. “We have been working with him and with Cherokee’s defense jumping us like that, we had to get the ball to the middle and he does a good job of getting high in the middle, catching the ball and making good decisions with it.”

Grainger hosts Cumberland Gap on Friday and Cherokee travels north to take on Tennessee High.