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Baylor Baxter scored with 11 seconds left Friday night at Isenburg-Siler Gym to lift visiting Cocke County to a thrilling 63-61 victory over Morristown East.

East’s Mason Smith gunned in a three-pointer to knot the score at 61-61 with 24 seconds to play. The Fighting Cockes brought the ball down the court with Baxter on the dribble. He stopped and briefly lost control of the ball but picked it back up, stepped around a defender and laid it in off the glass.

Cocke County took a time out after the basket and East had one last chance to tie or win but a shot came off the rim and Baxter rebounded as time ran out.

It was the 17th win against 11 losses for the Big Red which got 27 points from Kyler Hayes. East fell to 16-12 and will close out its regular season on Monday by hosting two-time defending state champion Greeneville.

Ethan Fine hit four three-pointers and added a dozen points for Cocke County while Brazen Stewart and Lakin France had seven each and Baxter six.

Kyle Cloninger tossed in 25 for the Hurricanes with Smith adding 14 and Keegan Mink 12.

East was up by five at 58-53 with just under three minutes remaining. However, a knock down at midcourt resulted in a turnover and the Hurricanes never really recovered.

Hayes scored inside with 2:17 on the clock and then Stewart hit one of two free throws on two occasions and it was 58-57. The ‘Canes missed a three and Hayes grabbed a rebound and scored again to put the visitors in front with 1:16 left.

Two more free throws by Stewart upped the count to 61-58 with 42.7 seconds to play before Smith’s three tied it and set the stage for Baxter’s game-winner.

East coach Alden Collins said, “It was a tough loss. We got off to another slow start and it took us 3½ to get a lead and get ourselves in a situation where we should have been able to finish out the game.

“But we didn’t have the poise to finish it,” he said.

“Give Cocke County the credit. They shot the ball well and really beat us up on the glass,” he said. “They’re a good team.”

Collins said, “Hayes was tough tonight. When a kid gets going like that and is playing with confidence, it’s hard to slow him down. He ran the floor hard and did a good job on the glass.

“It’s win or learn right now for us, not win or loss. Hopefully we learned something from it that will help us in the tournament later on.”

East will be the top seed in the District Two 4-A Tournament, which begins next week.

Both teams made 25 of 49 field goal attempts for 51 percent. Cocke County was 7 of 15 three-point attempts while the Hurricanes hit 8 of 22. The Big Red won it at the foul like where they hit only 6 of 10 to East’s 3 of 7.

Cloninger scored 10 in the first quarter as East held an early 7-4 lead before the Fighting Cockes rallied for an 18-15 advantage at the first rest stop as Hayes scored eight in the quarter.

Fine hit a pair of three’s and Hayes scored seven more as the visitors led by as many as 10 in the second frame with that coming at 31-21 on a bucket by Hayes with 2:35 remaining in the half.

But that was all the Fighting Cockes would get in the half as East scored the final seven points and trailed by three at intermission. Carter Gilliam hit a three and Cloninger and Smith made baskets as the ‘Canes rallied.

Hayes scored first after halftime but East reeled off seven straight to grab a 35-33 lead. However, Baxter scored for the Big Red and Hayes added two more buckets and were back in front.

Fine hit another triple but Blake Creech hit a free throw and then grabbed his own miss and put it back in to get East within one late in the period before Pete Ramos scored to give Cocke County a 46-43 edge after three.

The lead swapped hand three times before Mink’s three-point play gave East a 52-50 lead. Billy Hubbard’s rebound basket made it a four-point lead before France hit a three.

Cloninger and Mink hit baskets to give East it’s five-point margin and set the stage for the frantic finish.

Hubbard grabbed 10 rebounds and Cloninger and Mink had nine each as the ‘Canes won the backboard battle 39-32. Baxter had seven for the Fighting Cockes.