‘Canes put up fight but fall to Vikings to close regular season

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Reed Miller had another great night against Morristown East on Monday, leading Tennessee High to a 66-53 rout at Isenberg-Siler Gym in the regular-season finale for the Hurricanes.

Miller poured in 25 points and grabbed 19 rebounds as the Vikings posted their 23rd win against six losses and dealt East its 15th consecutive setback.

Braden Howard added 13 for the Vikings, who are the District 1-3A regular-season champions. Cannon Swift chipped in 10.

East, which finished at 3-25 going into the district tournament, got 16 points from Brayden Smith while Chance Stokely added 14 and Jaxson Archer 13.

The Hurricanes will now travel to West Ridge on Thursday night at 6 p.m. for a play-in game in the District 1-4A Tournament. That winner will face regular-season co-champion Morristown West in the semifinals on Saturday night.

Johnson City Science Hill and Kingsport Dobyns-Bennett square off in Saturday’s other semifinal.

It was the second time this season Miller had a big night against the ‘Canes. He scored 24 and hauled in 13 rebounds in their first meeting.

East put up a stiff battle but eventually turnovers and the Vikings’ backboard dominance did the Hurricanes in. Tennessee High had a 46-35 margin off the glass. Stokely raked off 11 stray shots for East.

However, East coach Brice Cusick was optimistic after the loss. “I challenged the team to compete tonight and I think we did that. But rebounding and untimely turnovers still killed us.

“Howard in the first half and Miller in the second were real problems for us and hats off to them, they’re great players.

“But the type of effort we played with tonight will give us a chance to advance on Thursday and move on in the tournament.”

East led 5-2 early in the game with Smith providing all five of the points. A bucket by Josiah Valentine gave the Hurricanes their final lead before an 11-point run by the visitors.

Miller and Howard had seven each in the opening quarter and Tennessee High led 20-13 at the first break.

Smith tossed in nine and Stokely and Archer four each in the second period as the Hurricanes stayed close. But Howard added five to his total and the Vikings took a 35-30 lead into the dressing room at intermission.

Miller had eight in the third stanza when the Vikings scored the first six points and extended their lead to 54-38 after three quarters.

But the Hurricanes kept up the battle and closed within 59-53 on a three by Demarcus Cortes with 3:23 remaining in the game.

East had chances to move even closer as they missed two threes and turned the ball over once while still trailing by six.

The Hurricanes didn’t score after the Cortes bucket.

Tennessee High shot 45.9 percent, making good on 28 of 61 and finished 2 of 13 on three-point attempts. The ‘Canes connected on 23 of 57 for 40.4 percent and hit 5 of 20 from behind the arc.

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