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RUTLEDGE – Cocke County opened the fourth period with a 17-2 explosion and that allowed them to post a 61-47 come from behind win over Grainger Friday night.

The Fighting Cocks came into The Den in second place in the district standings and maintained that lead as they improve to 4-1 and 13-9 overall. The Grizzlies slip to 11-11 and 2-3 in league play.

“I thought we played hard all night even though in the first half the ball didn’t go in very well and we got into their tempo and playing more to Grainger’s style,” Cocke County head coach Casey Regan said. “That slowed us down and give them credit, they did what they needed to do to us and made us have to take tough shots and we didn’t make them. In the second half, at the end of the third and start of the fourth was when we really started forcing tempo and played our style.”

“I thought in the second half, Cocke County really turned the defensive heat up,” Grainger head coach Adam Wolfenbarger said. “We had built a lead at halftime and had a nice run to start the third quarter but in the fourth, they really tightened up. We tried some motion-based stuff, we tried some ball screen stuff but they just sat on it and they did a good job of being physical with us.”

Grainger enjoyed three 10-point leads throughout the contest but couldn’t pull away any further and Wolfenbarger said Cocke County’s ability to crash the boards was one of the differences in the game. “They had 30 offense rebounds in a game earlier and they got 15 tonight. They are just so good at getting extra opportunities and then it seemed like they made a big shot every time they got it. We set in a zone for a while and then Cocke County got to making shots and that allowed them to stretch things out and we got to chasing them a little bit. They have a bunch of seniors and I thought they played well down the stretch.”

Drew Branson scored half of Grainger’s points in the opening eight minutes as the Grizzlies built a 14-6 lead. Lakken France kept Cocke County close in the second period as he had a pair of three-pointers. The home team twice built a 10-point cushion with the second one coming when Brady Smith had a nifty rebound shot but the Fighting Cocks kept hanging tough as they cut the deficit to 30-22 on a three by France. Ragan said even though his team was down at the half, there was no panic mode. “We told our guys at halftime to just do what we do and not be shell-shocked when we didn’t know what was coming. I’m very proud of our guys.”

Things looked good for the home team when Branson hit a basket two minutes in the second half to make the score 35-23. But that was when the Newport visitors started their comeback as Brazen Stewart popped a pair of long-range shots and the Fighting Cocks took their first lead since 2-0 when France was true from three. Kade Williams’ long-range shot with 27 seconds remaining in the third sent the game to the fourth with the Grizzlies clinging to a 43-42 lead.

That was when the Fighting Cocks took over the contest. Zeke Ramos had a put-back of a missed shot and that was the opening salvo in the 17-2 run that sparked the win. The only points for Grainger through the first six and a half minutes of the fourth came when Branson hit a pair of free throws at the 4:32 mark. Smith produced the only Grizzly field goal in the fourth when he scored with 68 seconds remaining. Cocke County was sent to the line nine times down the stretch but struggled there as they missed six of them. The Grizzlies were unable to take advantage, though, as the visitors’ defense locked them down for the 62-47 triumph.

Stewart and Kylar Hayes led Cocke County in scoring with 14 points each. France added 11 points. Carter Williams scored 15 points for Grainger with Branson finishing with 11. “Brazen is our leader, our point guard for what seems like 18 years,” Ragan joked of his senior leader. “He got in early foul trouble but when we put him back in, I told him ‘you have to lead and if we are going to do this thing, it’s on you’ and that’s what he did. I’m really proud of him.”

The Grizzlies travel to New Tazewell on Tuesday to take on Claiborne while Cocke County steps out of league play to play at Jefferson County. “These guys know what’s in front of them and what is at stake,” Ragan said of his team’s ability to keep pace near the top of the district standings. “They want another shot at Greeneville and they want it to mean something so getting this win was absolutely necessary or there would have been no chance at that. We still have a ways to go to get to where I want us to be by tournament time but this was good for us because we had been reeling a bit and tonight was a good team win for us.”