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Morristown East’s Mason Smith had the kind of game young basketball players dream about Friday night at Isenburg-Siler Gym…only he did it in one quarter.

With the Hurricanes locked in a 30-30 halftime deadlock against Jefferson County Smith put on an incredible shooting display as East exploded to score 29 points and went on to a 72-57 victory to wrap up another District Two 4-A regular season championship.

Smith rained three-pointers on the Patriots as he knocked down six straight in the final 7:15 of the quarter and added another bucket by following up a missed shot for an unbelievable 20-point quarter. He was in such a zone it didn’t seem to matter where he shot from as each one didn’t hit anything except the bottom of the net.

The final two triples were from extremely long range with the last one coming from the orange paint of the East logo not far from mid-court.

Those six accounted for almost half of the 13 the Hurricanes buried in the game on their way to their seventh consecutive victory and 10th in the last 11 games.

Smith finished with 25 as East upped its mark to 16-10. Kyle Cloninger added 14 and Isaac Greene came off the bench to chip in 11.

Jefferson County, which fell to 9-18, got 16 points from Cy Mincey with freshman Brody Carr adding 11.

East won the district and will be the top seed in the upcoming district tournament and will face the Patriots again in the opening round while West and Sevier County will be the other matchup in the first round.

East coach Alden Collins talked about Smith’s outburst. “You read and hear about people getting into a flow of doing something like that. But it’s a special thing to watch it happen. We all know that he’s capable of shooting like that and something like that is fun for all of us and all his teammates in trying to find him shots out there. There’s no coaching something like that…it’s just a kid making plays.

“I thought our defense stepped up in the third quarter,” said the coach. “That allowed us to get out in transition and do the things we’re best at. A lot of the offense started on the defensive end.”

Collins talked about winning the district. “You know, I’m just so proud of this group for stepping up. We had a tough start to the season at 0-5 and to turn it around the way that we have says a lot about these kids.”

Jefferson County coach Andy Hill said, “East is a really good team and when they get in a rhythm that’s what happens. When they’re hitting shots like that the other team is in trouble.

“They shoot it really well and they’ve got a team full of unselfish guys,” he added. “When he started hitting those shots they did a really good job of getting him the ball and he just kept making them.”

Hill said his team played well in the first half. “We’ve had some times when we played well for a half but we haven’t put two together and that’s what we need to do with the tournament coming up.”

East wound up shooting 55.1 percent by making 27 of 48 including 13 of 30 behind the arc. The Patriots made 24 of 51 for 47.1 percent and finished 8 of 18 on three-point attempts.

The Hurricanes had a 29-25 rebounding edge as Cloninger grabbed 11 and Keagan Mink nine.

Carter Gilliam made the first basket of the third quarter to put East in front for good before Mink added a free throw. Smith made his first three of the period and a minute later hit his second for a 39-30 lead.

Kohl Bonura scored for the Patriots but Smith came right back for another triple and Cloninger added a fast break layup. Talan Higgins made a free throw for Jefferson but B. J. Hubbard scored inside and Smith buried another three and it was 49-33 with 3:19 left in the quarter.

Hubbard traded buckets with the Patriots’ Kip Parker and Higgins made two more free throws and it was 51-37. Smith put the missed shot back in and then moved out about halfway between the top of the circle and half-court for a triple followed by the one from the Orange paint. Parker made the last bucket of the quarter and it was 59-39 going to the final frame.

Greene pumped in nine in the fourth quarter as the Hurricanes stayed in control. The Patriots scored the last five points to cut into the final margin. The first half was close. East held an early lead but Mincey scored five and Ben Chandler four as the visitors led 14-12 at the first rest stop after a three by the ‘Canes’ Corey Carpenter late in the period.

Carpenter made another triple to start the second and Cloninger scored eight in the quarter. Smith made a three-pointer with 36 seconds left in the half but Carr’s basket tied the count at 30-30 at intermission.