ROGERSVILLE – The South Greene boys struggled to get shots to fall in the first and could never catch up in the second half in a 60-54 loss to Cocke County in the semifinals of the Big H BBQ Bash on Friday.
“I felt like we played pretty good defensively in the first half, but you can’t score 18 points in a half and expect to beat people,” South Greene coach Terry Hoes said. “Offensively we didn’t play very well in the first half, and Cocke County played a part in that, they are physical team. Then we got to the end and we had a chance, but we shot ourselves in the foot a couple of times.”
The Rebels were hoping to win the tournament for the third consecutive year, but will now have to settle for the third-place game against Union County at 4:30 pm on Saturday.
“I don’t question the heart of this group, they played hard tonight,” Hoese said. “God things will happen when you do that. I hate to come down here and lose. We wanted to win this tournament for the third year in a row. Now we’ll try to come back tomorrow and win third place.”
Chandler Gamble returned to the lineup on Friday for South Greene, but the Rebels were still down two starters and struggled to figure out things on offense early. Gamble scored six points in the period, but him playing through contact was about the only thing working for South Greene in the early going. The Rebels had two stretches of more than three minutes without a field goal in the first quarter.
Cocke County’s Maddux Carter beat the buzzer with a triple that pushed the advantage to 14-8 heading into the second frame.
Behind four points from Will Sutton and a straight-away trey from Waylon Fox the Fighting Cocks’ advantage grew to 23-12 with 2:19 left in the first half.
Charlie Lane got South Greene going with a turn-around jumper in the lane and Lucas Couch quickly followed with a transition layup.
Gamble ended the half with a jumper from the top of the key to close the gap to 25-18.
The scoring picked up for South Greene in the third quarter as it nearly doubled its first-half total with 17 points in the period. The problem was lapses on defense let Cocke County get inside for easy buckets that kept the deficit the same.
“A lot of defense is about communication, and we played much better defense in the first half in front of our bench where coach Dyer and I could talk through stuff,” Hoese said. “We had some communication break downs in the second half where we didn’t have guys in position which led to open shots.”
Will Arrowood gave the Rebels a spark by connecting from behind the arc early in the third quarter and with 4:34 left Gavin Dyer nailed a triple from the top of the key to close the gap to 30-26.
On South Greene’s next possession Couch found Dyer on the wing for another triple that closed the gap to 34-31.
A putback by Trey Gentry made it a three-point game one more time, but Cocke County went to the fourth quarter leading 42-35 after Fox and Ethan Fine each got inside for buckets in the final minute.
The Rebels never quit fighting and with 4:14 left to play Dyer nailed a three-pointer that closed the gap 52-50.
A steal by Arrowood led to Gamble being fouled in the paint. With 1:38 left he made both free tosses and cut Cocke County’s lead to 55-54.
South Greene had its chances to even the score, or go ahead, late, but it could not get another shot to fall and Cocke County escaped with a 60-54 win.
Gamble led South Greene with 23 points on Friday. Arrowood and Dyer each scored nine points.
Sutton led Cocke County with 17 points while Fox had 13 and Kyler Hayes scored 10 points.
PHELPS (KY) 65, SOUTH GREENE 42
Without two of their top scorers the South Greene girls could not keep up with Phelps, Kentucky in the second half on Friday night and fell 65-42 in the semifinals of the Big H BBQ Bash at Cheroke High School.
The Lady Rebels gained the first advantage on Friday after Samantha Birdwell knocked down a three-pointer and scored on a put back for a 5-2 lead.
Natalie Foshie also scored five points in the opening period for South Greene, but the Lady Hornets closed the quarter leading 12-10 after Charity Mounts sank a mid-range jumper.
By the midway point of the third quarter Phelps’ lead had grown to 19-13 after Kaylan Sloan made good on an old-fashioned-three-point play. With 1:31 left in the first half Bailey Norman hit from behind the arc to stretch the lead to 26-17.
Late in the period South Greene got a triple from Reagan Arrowood and layup from Foshie, but Phelps led 28-22 at the break.
Early in the third quarter Birdwell sank a trey and Ari Hoese scored on an offensive rebound as South Greene cut the lead to 28-27, but then the Lady Hornets began to step on the gas.
Kylea Weddington scored seven straight points before a free throw by Mounts stretched the lead to 38-28.
Caleigh McCoy ended the third with a breakaway layup that dropped in at the horn and Phelps led 46-33.
Phelps’ lead continued to grow in the fourth quarter as South Greene’s offense failed to make a field goal for over six minutes.
For the Lady Hornets Aerionna Pigman scored six points and Sloan scored four as they finished the night with a 65-42 win.
Foshie led South Greene on Friday with 13 points while Birdwell scored 10 points. South Greene played without two of their top scorers on Saturday in Madison Hensley and Kortnei Bailey.
McCoy led all scorers with 20 points, Weddington and Sloan each added 12 points for Phelps.
South Greene will be back in action on Saturday at 3 pm against Union County in the Tournament’s third-place game.
