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ROGERSVILLE – Kyler Hayes scored 24 points and Lakken France scored 19 as Cocke County advanced to the finals of the District 2, 3-A boys tournament with a hard-fought 70-67 win over Grainger Saturday night.

“Early in the game, I thought we let our emotions get the best of us with some mental lapses and some of our antics and that’s not the way we want to play,” Cocke County head coach Casey Ragan said. “I took a time out and challenged them and once we settled in, we responded well. I am super proud of Lakken as he carried us in the first half.”

Hayes opened things up with the first nine points of the game for Cocke County before the Grizzlies settled in and the contest became a heavyweight fight after that. In the first half the two teams were tied six times and the lead changed hands 14 times with most of that coming in the first period. After Carter Williams gave Grainger their first lead at 15-14 with two minutes remaining in the opening half, Brizen Stewart scored to make the score 16-15, Fighting Cocks, at the end of the period. Cocke County connected on six three-pointers in the second period as they turned a close game into a 45-34 lead at the half when Baylor Baxter scored at the buzzer.

Grainger couldn’t miss to begin the third period as they were able to whittle the Big Red lead down to three points on a Brady Smith three. Baxter had an old-fashioned three-point play and Zeke Ramos hit a shot to push the Cocke County lead back out to 56-48 but here came Grainger once more as Smith scored three points on a hoop-and-harm and then drained a triple to cap an 11-point outburst in the third frame for Grainger and pulled the Grizzlies to within a possession at 56-54 on the last play before the fourth period began. Smith continued to have the hot hand as he hit two more threes to keep the Grizz within two points. Hayes made it a 66-60 lead with back-to-back baskets at the 1:42 mark but the Grizzlies wouldn’t go down quietly as they were able to get the lead down to one point on two separate occasions with a Smith steal and layup and then Ryland Burchett’s rebound of a missed shot. Baxter connected on two three throws with 24 seconds left and then Grainger called a timeout with 19 seconds left to try to set up a game-tying play. The Cocke County defense held, however, and the second-seed in the tournament escaped with a 70-67 win. “Give Grainger credit, they made a lot of tough shots. I thought we defended okay but we just left them open too much in the first half but in the second half, we covered them up but they just made shots,” Ragan said.

Smith led Grainger with 21 points, Drew Branson had 13 and Ryland Burchett scored 12. “Brady was fantastic. We love that Brady and we have seen him a few times. It’s a big difference as he was playing with so much confidence. We have that kind of confidence in him every night,” Grainger head coach Adam Wolfenbarger said of Smith’s performance on Saturday. The Grainger boss also was singing the praises of Burchett who was the sparkplug the Grizzlies needed on both offense and defense. “I can’t say enough about Ryland Burchett this year. He’s had a great season and he’s stuck it out. He was absolutely great tonight and he’s been good all year. I was proud to see him play well offensively on this kind of stage.”

“I think this was the best game we have played in spurts,” Wolfenbarger said of his team’s performance against at team who had beaten them earlier by 33 and 17 points. “We were really tough at times but offensively, I thought we got in too much of a hurry at times but we also could be patient. We had different guys to step up.”

Grainger will play in the consolation game on Tuesday night against Cherokee and Wolfenbarger said despite the sting of Saturday’s loss, there are still a lot of things ahead for his team with two more guaranteed games against the Chiefs and then a regional game next weekend. “This is a tournament sport and no one will feel sorry for us. We will have to bounce back against Cherokee on Tuesday as there is a lot to play for.”

Cocke County will face off against Greeneville in the district finals and Ragan said his team is thankful for another shot against the defending state champs. “This is what our guys have wanted. They want another shot at Greeneville since the first time we played them. I think we proved to ourselves we are in the same category as them. That’s my belief and it’s these guys’ belief. We will rest some on Sunday and then Monday we will get ready to try to win a championship on Tuesday.”

Greeneville 71, Cherokee 21

Greeneville has won the last two state champions and they look to be in prime form to make a run towards a third as they downed Cherokee 71-21 in Saturday’s semifinals on the Chiefs’ home court.

The Greene Devils led 29-3 at the end of the first period and pushed their advantage to 48-13 at the half. The Chiefs just couldn’t get anything going against Greeneville’s defense. Brice Elliott led Cherokee with six points.