North Greene stayed on Cosby’s heels for the whole game, but couldn’t put together the run they needed to race out in front and suffered a 63-57 defeat to Cosby on Tuesday night.
Another single-digit loss for the Huskies. North Greene fell to 6-11 on the season. The loss was North Greene’s 7th single-digit loss of the season. The Huskies are always close to getting over the hump, but have fallen short in many games.
“It’s tough because the difference between winning and losing is that minuscule,” Huskies Head Coach Matt Weems expressed.
The Huskies had a rare night on offense. Only five players scored, but all five entered double figures. Thomas Darnell led with 15 points. Jaiden Bailey and Isaac Gaby scored 13 while Tyler Britton and Havoc Fair scored 11.
Cosby’s Cruz Coggins put on a show and led all scorers with a game-high 28 points. Cooper Davis entered double figures with 11.
“I think that was a hard-fought basketball game. We let Coggins have close to thirty on us. He hit some tough ones and I knew he was capable of doing that. He’s tough. They’ve got two or three other ones that are pretty good basketball players also,” Coach Weems stated.
The game started with each team going back-and-forth from the three-point line. Cornelius Carr started with a three followed by Fair’s three. Davis landed a triple next followed by Bailey. North Greene took an 8-6 lead after Darnell’s layup, but then fell behind following an 8-0 run by Cosby. Bailey hit another three later to cut it to three and Gaby nailed one of his own to cut it to two after the first. Cosby led 18-16 after the first.
It was a back-and-forth battle between Darnell and Coggins at the beginning of the second. Darnell’s spin move gave him space for a layup, but Coggins drained a three on the other side. Darnell canned a three next, but then Coggins went uncontested for a layup. The Huskies worked from behind to take the lead late in the second. Britton’s three and Gaby’s and-one saw North Greene hold a brief 30-29 lead before Davis cut through the lane for a layup. Cosby led for the rest of the game. The Eagles led 34-30 going into halftime.
Cruz Coggins started the second half hot with four in-a-row for Cosby. Tyler Britton hit a second three and cut it to three. Havoc Fair’s baseline layup cut it to one. That would be the closest North Greene would get to the lead for the rest of the way. Cosby finished the quarter on a 10-3 run and led 51-43 after the third.
Isaac Gaby hit a three-pointer to begin the fourth, but the five-point margin they trailed by was the closest they could get in the fourth. The lead grew to its largest at ten points and Jaiden Bailey cut it to seven with a three. Bailey later cut it to seven again with a layup with two minutes remaining. Britton’s third three cut it to five again. North Greene had a chance to create drama with the ball with under thirty seconds left, but couldn’t make one of the many shot opportunities they had in the final seconds.
The clock ran out and Cosby defeated North Greene 63-57.
“We go back to work tomorrow at practice and correct our mistakes. We’ve got to get this ball rolling in the right direction. We’re close. Just attention to detail,” Coach Weems said.
North Greene hits the road for a contest on Roan Mountain on Friday with Cloudland. It will begin North Greene’s District 1-1A schedule.
