GATLINBURG – The South Greene boys’ basketball team saw its season come to an end Tuesday night, falling to Class 2A’s No. 3-ranked team in the Region 1 semifinals at Gatlinburg-Pittman. The Highlanders led for much of the contest and pulled away late for a 72-51 victory, advancing to Thursday’s 7 p.m. championship game against Unicoi County.
South Greene head coach Terry Hoese knew the challenge awaiting his team on the road.
“We had a hard time scoring buckets in the first half and fell behind, but we battled and made our run,” Hoese said. “We just couldn’t sustain it, and you can’t do things like that against good teams. We knew we had to shoot it well and defend their guards, and we just didn’t do that consistently enough.”
Both teams struggled to find rhythm early, as scoring was at a premium in the opening minutes. Roger Matute put the Highlanders on the board with a 3-pointer at the 6:39 mark of the first quarter. The Rebels answered quickly with a bucket from Simon Burns, and Noah Wright followed with a score 30 seconds later to give South Greene a 4-3 lead.
Defense tightened on both ends as turnovers mounted. Gatlinburg-Pittman used its physical presence inside to get Malachi Palmer and Quin Coykendall to the free-throw line, where each split a pair to edge ahead 5-4 with 3:44 left in the quarter.
Gavin Dyer responded with his first points of the night to reclaim the lead at 6-5, but the advantage was short-lived. Inaki Palomares buried back-to-back 3-pointers to spark an 11-6 Highlander lead they would not surrender. Dyer connected from deep to keep South Greene within striking distance, but Palomares closed the quarter with five straight points, finishing with 11 in the period as GP carried a 16-9 lead into the second.
Matute opened the second quarter with a basket to stretch the lead to nine. Wright sparked a brief Rebel surge with four straight points, trimming the deficit to 18-13 and forcing a Highlander timeout with 6:28 remaining in the half.
Out of the break, Matute drained a 3-pointer and Coykendall converted a transition layup off a turnover to push the margin back to 10 at 23-13. The teams traded baskets over the next few minutes before South Greene closed the half on a 4-3 run behind scores from Wright and Cayden Fillers, heading into the locker room trailing 30-21.
The Rebels came out energized after halftime and quickly made things interesting. Dyer knocked down a 3-pointer and added a jumper, and Wright followed with a steal and layup to cut the deficit to 30-28. Wright had a chance to complete the three-point play, but the free throw was off the mark. South Greene grabbed the offensive rebound and earned another opportunity to tie or take the lead, but could not capitalize.
Matute and Jameson White traded 3-pointers before Nathan Allen added his only points of the night to give the Highlanders a 35-31 edge midway through the third. Wright scored inside to bring the Rebels within two, but Jaydon Barton and Craig Huskey answered to extend the lead to 39-33.
Dyer converted a three-point play with 1:23 remaining in the quarter to trim the deficit to 39-36, but that would be South Greene’s final points of the period. The Highlanders closed the third on a 5-0 run to take a 44-36 lead into the fourth.
In the final period, Dyer knocked down two more 3-pointers before fouling out with 1:43 remaining. Will Arrowood added five points in the quarter, but the Highlanders’ offense shifted into another gear. Barton poured in 10 fourth-quarter points and Coykendall added six as GP erupted for 28 points in the final frame to the Rebels’ 15, sealing the 72-51 victory.
Dyer led all scorers with 19 points, followed by Wright with 14 for South Greene, who ends their season with a 20-13 record. Barton paced the Highlanders with 18 points, including 16 in the second half, while Matute and Palomares each added 17.
South Greene (51) 9-12-15-15: Dyer (19), Wright (14), Fillers (6), Arrowood (5), White (3), Lane (2), Burns (2)
Gatlinburg Pittman (72) 16-14-14-28: Barton (18), Matute (17), Palomares (17), Coykendall (9), Huskey 5, Winder (2), Allen (2), Palmer (2)
