Chuckey-Doak and Johnson County entered Thursday night’s District 1-2A quarterfinal game with their seasons on the line. The winner would advance to face top-seeded Unicoi County in Saturday’s semifinals, while the loser would turn its attention to spring sports.
The Black Knights, behind a balanced scoring attack, eventually pulled away for a 65-47 win.
Chuckey-Doak placed four players in double figures, with Dom Atchison leading the way with 19 points. Knox McAmis followed with 13, while Ryland Grindstaff added 12 and Ben Palazzo finished with 10 points.
“It’s huge,” exclaimed Coach Sam Broyles on his team’s balanced attack. “At this point in the season, everybody’s going to be good, and you’ve got to match other teams because they’re going to have more than one or two scorers, too.”
Johnson County was paced by Landon Lipford’s 19 points, followed by Hunter Paisley with eight and Darren Chappell with seven.
The first quarter was a back-and-forth affair from beyond the arc, with Johnson County claiming an early 6-0 advantage behind Lipford’s pair of three-pointers. McAmis got Chuckey-Doak on the board with a three of his own to make the score 6-3 with 5:39 remaining.
The Longhorns continued to patiently run their offense and take what the defense allowed, resulting in another three from Chris Wilson to make it 9-3. The Black Knights answered as senior Dom Atchison knocked down two consecutive threes to tie the game at 9-9 with 2:55 remaining in the opening period.
Johnson County quickly regained the lead at 11-9 when Paisley drained a short jumper, but Atchison responded with his third three-pointer of the period to put Chuckey-Doak back on top, 12-11, with 2:12 remaining.
The first period came to a close with the visitors holding a slim 13-12 lead as Wilson scored his fifth point of the quarter.
Broyles praised his opponent’s poise and strengths. “Johnson County is tough in their half-court offense. They’ll run it and run you through screen after screen until they get what they want, and we let them dictate the pace in the first quarter.”
The Black Knights opened the second quarter with possession and wasted no time going to work as Grindstaff scored his first basket of the game to retake the lead. An Atchison drive to the bucket followed, making the score 16-13 less than a minute into the period.
Lipford responded with a bucket and a three over the next few minutes to push the Longhorns back in front, 18-16, at the 5:15 mark.
Thirty seconds later, Atchison drained an uncontested three from the corner—his fourth of the half—to give the Black Knights a 19-18 lead, one they would never relinquish.
Chuckey-Doak picked up two baskets from Palazzo and one from Grindstaff to outscore Johnson County 6-2 the rest of the half and take a 25-20 lead into the locker room.
Both teams began the third period methodically putting points on the board as Johnson County picked up a free throw from Lipford and two buckets from Paisley, while Chuckey-Doak got baskets from Grindstaff and McAmis to make the score 29-25 with 5:42 remaining.
At that point, the Black Knights made a defensive adjustment and began to run and jump, creating turnovers that transitioned into easy buckets. Palazzo scored in the paint with 5:26 to go, while McAmis added six straight points and Jake Broyles knocked down a jumper as Chuckey-Doak went on a 10-0 run to push its advantage to 39-25 with 1:25 remaining in the third.
Chappell ended the Longhorns’ scoring drought with a pair of free throws and added another bucket with 14 seconds remaining to make the score 41-29 heading into the fourth quarter.
“I thought the third quarter was the key,” Broyles said as his team picked up the tempo. “Dom, Gavin, and that whole group were able to speed them up and create easy opportunities for us to score. We play better when we are playing fast like that.”
The Black Knights continued to push the tempo in the fourth and final period, stretching their lead to as many as 23 points with 3:47 remaining. They would eventually secure the 18-point win and advance to the district semifinals, earning an automatic berth in the regional tournament.
Up next for the Black Knights is a matchup with the top-seeded Unicoi County Blue Devils on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. The other semifinal will feature No. 2 seed West Greene facing South Greene, which defeated Happy Valley 65-34 in the other play-in game.
Chuckey Doak 12-13-16-24 (65) – Dom Atchison (19), Knox McCamis (13), Ryland Grindstaff (12), Ben Palazzo (10), Gavin Crum (5), Blake Lippard (2), Jake Broyles (2), Logan Malone (2)
Johnson County 13-7-9-18 (47) – Landin Lipford (19), Hunter Paisley (8), Darren Chappell (7), Dylan Warren (6), Chris Wilson (5), Kaden Blevins (2)
