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Greeneville freshman Troy Thompson played the role of spoiler on East’s Senior Night Monday at Isenburg-Siler Gym. The 6-6 Thompson poured in 32 points and grabbed a dozen rebounds as the Greene Devils dealt the Hurricanes a 62-54 setback in the regular season finale for both teams.

Adjatay Dabbs chipped in 12 points as the Devils improved to 19-11 on the season and handed the Hurricanes, now 16-13, their third straight defeat.

East will be the top seed as the District Two 4-A Tournament opens at Sevier County on Thursday night. The Hurricanes will take on Jefferson County at 6 p.m.

As usual, Kyle Cloninger led the ‘Canes as he scored 25 points, right on his season’s average. Keagan Mink added 12 but nobody else scored more than seven points in the loss.

East held a six-point lead in the third quarter before the Devils ran off eight straight points to close the period and then scored the first two of the fourth frame.

Cloninger scored for the Hurricanes but the Devils scored five more and it was all but over.

“It’s not the way we wanted to go into the district,” said East coach Alden Collins. “I felt like we hit a stretch where it showed that we had played on Thursday, Friday and Monday. It showed on us as we missed some defensive assignments and they went on a run late in the third and early in the fourth.”

He added, “We just made some mistakes and didn’t look like we had much gas left in the tank.

“Ultimately though, it’s new life and a new season as we start tournament play. We earned the number one seed and we’re just looking to learn from these three losses we had late,” he continued. “We would liked to have had the confidence of three wins but we played three good teams.

“Now, we can rest and recharge and be ready for the district,” he said.

Collins talked about the play of Thompson who scored only six points as East won the first meeting between the two teams. “He’s a great player. He had some success from the perimeter with some early three’s and then he was really physical in the post. He did it inside, outside and on the glass.

“Kyle and Keagan played well but we struggled to find shots for the other guys,” Collins went on to say. “We’ve got to do a better job of that so they can contribute more often.”

Greeneville coach Brad Woolsey said, “I thought we did a great job of keeping their number five (Mason Smith) from getting shots and I think that was one of the big factors. Kyle’s going to score because he’s a great player but we did a good job on the others that had been hitting a lot of shots for them.”

Woolsey said the win was great for his team. “This was a great situation for us tonight. It was a great crowd and a loud gym against a good team on the road. That’s what you want to get ready to start tournament play.

“Troy played really well. He hit some three’s early and forced them to spread the floor and then did a really good job around the basket.”

Thompson hit 4 of 5 three-pointers to go along with 6 of 6 free throws on the night.

As a team, the Greene Devils shot 51.1 percent by making 23 of 45 including 9 of 18 from behind the arc. East was 22 of 45 for 48.9 percent and made good on 5 of 16 three-point tries.

Greeneville had a slender 25-24 rebounding edge with Thompson leading the way. Cloninger grabbed nine stray shots for East and B. J. Hubbard had five.

East jumped out to an early 4-0 lead before Thompson hit two three’s and a short jumper to spark a 10-2 run by the Devils. The Hurricanes came right back to tie before Hayden Goad’s three gave the visitors a 15-12 margin.

But Hubbard hit a bucket and Cloninger added a layup and a triple and East led 20-18 at the first stop.

There were eight lead changes in the quarter and never more than three points between the two teams. The game was tied at 34-34 at intermission.

Two buckets by Cloninger and Smith’s only three of the night gave East a 47-41 lead with 2:38 left in the third stanza but the visitors scored the final eight points to lead 49-47 entering the fourth quarter.

Dabbs scored first after the break and Cloninger hit for East and it was still a two-point game. But Thompson fired in a three and Jayquan Price added a basket and the Devils had their biggest lead at 56-49.

Cloninger made two free throws, Dabbs hit a layup and Thompson knocked down another triple for the Devils. Carter Gilliam drained a three for East to get it down to 60-54 and the Devils missed the front end of two one-and-ones that East couldn’t take advantage of before Dabbs closed the scoring with two free throws.