B

ROGERSVILLE – Greeneville is used to building big leads and then rolling to a win but they had to earn everything they got in their game against Cocke County Tuesday night.

The top two seeds in District 2-3A met in the league championship game and the Fighting Cocks were in the fight all night with the two-time defending state champs as they only trailed by five with just over five minutes to go in the game. Greeneville was able to get to the line down the stretch, however, and cut down the nets with a 55-40 win. Both teams will have home games in Saturday’s first round of the regional tournament.

“We just didn’t seem to be able to put the ball in the hole the entire second half,” Cocke County head coach Casey Ragan said. “A lot of that had to do with Greeneville’s pressure and we told our guys at halftime they were going to turn their defensive pressure up and they did. Greeneville forced us out to start our offense too far from the goal and we couldn’t get any shots to fall. I’m disappointed for our guys as I really wanted it for them but tomorrow is a new day and we have a home regional game ahead of us. I feel I have a team that is capable of making a run.”

Cocke County had a fantastic start as they built a 12-3 lead in the first period as the Greene Devils had no easy looks at the basket. Greeneville recovered a bit late in the opening period as Adjatay Dabbs scored five points which included a shot at the buzzer. Lakken France’s three put the Fighting Cocks up 18-11 but after that, Greeneville seized the momentum and led 25-24 at the half.

The third period was not to Cocke County’s liking as they were outscored 13-5. Brazen Stewarts’ basket with two seconds left got the deficit below 10 at 38-29. The lead was whittled down to 40-35 on two free throws by Stewart at the 5:11 mark of the fourth but Greeneville responded by getting to the line, hitting 12 of their 13 free tosses in the final three minutes. Baylor Baxter connected on a three late to make the final score 55-40. “The theme of this team is there has been no quit in them,” Ragan said of his squad’s grittiness to battle the entire game with one of the state’s elite programs. “I knew they wouldn’t fold up or shut down on me and credit these guys as they kept fighting. As long as we have that, we can work with other parts where sometimes the basketball goes in and sometimes it doesn’t.”

Stewart scored 14 points to lead Cocke County. Dabbs tallied 19 points for Greeneville to go along with Jayquan Price’s 16 and Kameron Lester’s 10. Making the All-Tournament team for the Fighting Cocks was France, Stewart and Kyler Hayes. The regular season All-District team was released after the game with Stewart and Baxter being selected with France and Ethan Fine named as Honorable Mention. The head coaches of the league voted Hayes Underclassman of the Year.

“This game hurts and it’s supposed to hurt but our message to our guys was to just flush this one and let’s go get ready to win a game at home and try to move on,” Ragan said of Saturday’s regional in Newport.

Grainger 55,

Cherokee 49

Grainger rallied in the second half to win the consolation game of the district tournament with a 55-49 victory. Drew Branson led the Grizzlies with 19 points followed by Brady Smith’s 12 and 11 from Brizen Solomon. Elisha Jones paced the Chiefs with 16 points with Colten McClain adding 14.

Branson scored seven of the Grizzlies’ 15 points in the opening period but the Chiefs led 17-15. The Chiefs got consecutive three-pointers from Jones to go up by eight but Smith got Grainger back into it as he scored the final six points of the second to make it a 25-23, Cherokee, game at the half. The Grizzlies went inside to Solomon who scored twice and Branson followed with a three as Grainger got their first lead of the second half at 32-21. Branson added another triple late in the third for the Grizzlies.

Grainger had a 7-0 run and looked to be primed to ice the game away but McClain had a three-point play with 14 seconds to go. The Grizzlies missed two free throws with the Chiefs getting the rebound of the second one but Branson alertly intercepted the ball on a long Cherokee pass, was fouled and connected on both freebies to secure the 55-49 win.

Jones was named to the All-Tournament team from Cherokee and Grainger’s Branson and Smith were also tabbed as members of the team. Regular season honors went to the Grizzlies’ Branson and Carter Williams with Kade Williams, Ryland Burchett and Solomon Honorable Mention members. Will Price and McLain made the team from Cherokee.

“We both took some shots down the stretch but Grainger did a better job of not turning the ball over,” Cherokee coach Trey Fields said. “We will have to play more like we did tonight than we did in the first game of the tournament against Greeneville,” Fields said of the upcoming regional matchup. “We have played all of the teams in the upper East Tennessee bracket and I feel like we can compete.”

“I thought defensively, we were okay and the only thing we talked about at halftime was trying to make shots,” Grainger head coach Adam Wolfenbarger said. “We shot 26 percent from three and 26 percent from two but again, defensively, we were pretty good. This win guarantees we will be over .500 this season and that didn’t look so promising at one time. These guys deserve a whole lot of credit for scratching and clawing and continuing to improve all year long.”

“I think with the way we are playing and with the capabilities we have on this team, no one is going to be excited to see us,” Wolfenbarger said of the Grizzlies’ next game in the region. “I still think we have some basketball ahead of us and I’m excited to see how we compete on Saturday.”