ROGERSVILLE – The North Greene boys struggled out of the gate on Wednesday and could not get going as they fell to Cocke County 61-47 in the Big H BBQ Bash at Cherokee High School.
“I’m disappointed in our effort. We just weren’t doing the things it takes to win,” North Greene coach Sam Tarlton said. “I have to find a way to get us back to doing those things. We lost this game early. We’ve been giving up about 46 points per game, and they almost had that at half time. We just didn’t have the effort on defense.”
The Fighting Cocks got going on the inside early while North Greene struggled to get anything to fall on its end of the floor. Kyler Hayes and Waylon Fox each scored four points early and Cocke County quickly led 10-2.
Tyler Britton was able to connect on a three-pointer to close the gap to 13-7, but Hayes and Will Sutton got the rim to give Cocke County a 17-7 advantage at the close of the opening period.
The Huskies got some things going on offense early in the second quarter with Britton hitting from deep and Thomas Darnell dropping in a floater to close the gap to 19-16.
Isaac Gaby then connected on back-to-back triples for North Greene, but the Fighting Cocks still held a 27-22 lead.
In the final two minutes of the first half Drew Hazelwood sank a three-pointer and went coast to coast for a layup that put Cocke County up 34-22. At halftime the Fighting Cocks led 36-27.
Lance Carrico started the second half with a three-pointer from the top of the key for the Huskies. He followed with a layup that cut Cocke County’s lead to 38-34.
With 1:36 left in the third quarter Jaiden Bailey found Britton cutting down the baseline for a lay in that closed the gap to 42-38.
The third quarter ended with Gaby sinking a triple from the left wing that got the Huskies within three points at 44-41.
With 6:30 left to play Gaby stole the ball at midcourt and took it the other way for a breakaway layup that tied the game at 45-45.
From that point on North Greene’s offense reverted to its early struggles as every shot clanged out while unforced turnovers kept giving the ball back to Cocke County.
The Fighting Cocks scored 14 unanswered points and held North Greene scoreless for over six minutes on their way to claiming a 61-47 win.
Carrico led North Greene with 16 points while Gaby scored 11 points. For Cocke County Hayes scored 19 points and Ethan Fine had 10 points.
North Greene will be back in action at Cherokee on Friday at 10 a.m. against Hancock County in the tournament’s losers bracket.
