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Cosby Sweeps Hancock County

By SETH BUTLER

NPT Sports Writer

 

COSBY – Taking one game at a time is the motto for Cosby High School this season – and this game saw a longtime, hated rival come calling to the Eagles Nest.

 

Hancock County, a name that almost brings about as much hatred as Alabama does to Tennessee fans, was the game on this day.

 

And while it’s still considered a rivalry, the series has been lopsided the last several years, as the Eagles and Lady Eagles have dominated in the regular season and post season recently.

 

The domination continued on Friday evening, as well.

 

The Lady Eagles (4-3) struggled offensively in the first half, but pulled away with a huge 19-point second half from senior forward Whitney Hannah on their way to a 48-28 win, after leading 13-12 at halftime.

 

The Eagles (7-0) made the Indians pick their poison – and gave them both doses instead - as Dexter Manning did the damage from the outside with 27 points and Timmy Blakely did it on the inside with 19 of his own, as Cosby rolled to a 77-52 win.

 

Eagles bash Indians

 

For the most part, the offense hasn’t been the primary concern of Cosby head coach Richard Coggins. However, the man-to-man defense the first year coach likes to employ has brought about serious foul trouble on occasion.

 

Now a move to a zone defense has alleviated that foul trouble over the last week.

 

And the reduced number of fouls has allowed that offense to take off, as the Eagles put together their most complete performance of the young season for a drubbing of the Hancock County Indians.

 

“We started to go to a zone defense here recently,” said Coggins. “I don’t like a zone, but we do that to try and buy ourselves a quarter.”

 

“We didn’t do that bad in the zone tonight, they hit a couple of shots that the scouting reports said they would – but overall we did pretty well.”

 

And that zone defense did exactly what Coggins wanted, buy the Eagles a quarter.

 

That quarter purchased was big in the outcome of the evening. With none of the Eagles starting five picking up a first quarter foul, the offense was able to fly, mainly on the back of Manning.

 

Manning scored 16 points in the second quarter, including draining four of five three-point shots. And when Manning made his rare miss in the period, it was Blakely there for a three-point play when he was fouled tipping in Manning’s miss from beyond the arc.

 

The barrage from Manning allowed the Eagles to increase their lead from 21-15 at the end of the first quarter to 47-26 at halftime, part of a 30-6 run in the second and third quarters.

 

“We look to push the ball, and get four guys involved on offense,” said Coggins of the Eagles’ offensive explosion. “Two of them weren’t hitting, but Dexter picked it up and had what I thought was an outstanding game, and Timmy had a great game.”

 

The ease of scoring also saw the Eagles become patient on offense, and allow for nothing to be forced on that end of the floor.

 

“We did a good job of running our half-court offense,” said Coggins. “We preach pushing the ball and try to run under control. We make sure we don’t try to force anything at all.”

 

And with Hancock County making halftime adjustments to shut down Manning, it received the other dose of venom from the Eagles in the form of the 6-foot-3 college prospect Blakely.

 

Blakely began the period with a one-handed jam that brought the Cosby faithful to their feet. Blakely closed his action in the quarter with two consecutive blocked shots on the defensive end, again electrifying the crowd.

 

The Eagles eventually stretched their lead to 57-26 midway through the period, when Coggins went deep into the Eagles bench to garner playing time for all 12 of his dressed players.

 

A mild run to end the quarter by the Indians saw Hancock County pull to within 60-37 and Coggins went back to his starting five attempting to stem the tide.

 

And Blakely made sure that very thing happened. Blakely again got the crowd’s attention with a monstrous slam before ending his night with a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Additionally the senior had four blocks and a pair of assists.

 

Cosby this time kept up the pressure and slammed the door on the Indians after the starters returned to the bench, as the Eagles took the victory.

 

Hancock County was led in scoring by Jeremy Cope with 14. Evan McCoy scored 12 and Chad Burdine added 10 points.

 

Manning led Cosby with 27 points, with Blakely adding 19. Todd Jenkins tossed in 12 points, with Dwight Hewitt scoring six. Kelvin Rone scored four points, with Cody Lowe scoring three, and Russell Valentine, Jody Lowe and David Hall each scoring two.

 

Cosby out rebounded the Indians 29-24 in the game.

 

Lady Eagles pull away late over Hancock

 

Last month the meeting between these two teams came down to a last-second miraculous shot by Hancock County. This month, it looked to be a miracle if any team could hit one shot.

 

A paltry first half offensive exhibition by both teams (25 combined points) was brought about by sloppy offensive play, more-so than outstanding defensive play.

 

The Lady Eagles connected on 3-23 from the field in the first half with seven turnovers while the Lady Indians were 6-24 with 13 turnovers.

 

The first quarter saw the Lady Eagles take a 6-4 advantage, as Cosby had only one field-goal, a Whitney Hannah three-point basket.

 

Hancock County tried to break off a rally in the second period as Keesha Belcher scored six of her team-high 11 points in the quarter; however a late basket by Cosby’s Macie Webb gave the Lady Eagles a 13-12 halftime lead.

 

Whatever adjustments Cosby head coach Dennis Payne made in the locker room, it was enough to bring the Lady Eagles offense out of the doldrums as Hannah took her team on her back.

 

The Cosby senior connected on two consecutive three-point baskets, fueled by two more Lady Indian’s turnovers pushing the Lady Eagles advantage out to seven points. Hannah also connected on three more shots from the field in the quarter as Cosby exploded for 16 points in the quarter, to take a 29-24 lead.

 

Little known at that point, but the Lady Eagles had things sewn up at that point as Hancock County only could muster four fourth quarter points. But a freshman did just fine in sewing things up herself.

 

With the score 29-26 near the six-minute mark, freshman point guard Whitney Hartsell dodged a Hancock County defender, and buried a three-point shot from the corner. Hartsell’s basket effectively putting the dagger in the Lady Indians hopes for the season sweep of Cosby, as the Lady Eagles went on to score 19 points in the quarter for the 20-point victory.

Hannah led the Lady Eagles with a game-high 22 points, along with four rebounds. Hartsell added eight points, with Keisha Chandler scoring five. Megan Williams and Lindsey Hall added four points each, freshman Stevie Gorrell scored three points and Macie Webb added two.

 

Belcher paced Hancock County with 11 points and 17 rebounds.

 

Cosby was out rebounded 46-31 by Hancock County.

 

Up Next

 

If the Eagles and Lady Eagles are taking things one game at a time, then this week will consist of two huge tests for Cosby.

 

On Tuesday, the Eagles and Lady Eagles will travel to Morristown to take on Class AAA Morristown East of the Inter Mountain Athletic Conference (District 2-AAA) at Isenberg-Siler Gymnasium. Last year, the Lady Eagles swept the Lady Hurricanes of former Hancock County girls coach Terry Livesay, while the Eagles were narrowly defeated by the Hurricanes in both meetings.

 

And then on Friday, Cosby travels to Rockwood for a key District 3-A clash.

 

The winner between the Eagles and Tigers will likely have the upper hand in the District 3-A race.

 

The Eagles have dropped their last two contests’ to Paul Kamikawa’s Tigers. Rockwood ended Cosby’s season last year in the Region 2-A tournament semi-finals on a last second rebound and putback by Ellery Harvest. In 2004, the Tigers defeated Cosby in the Region 2-A final in Rockwood.

Edited by PTSportsWriter
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F.Y.I.

 

knox gibbs: 1-9

washburn : 3-5

hancock : 1-8

tsd : does it really matter 4-3

hancock : 1-8

m. west : 0-5

 

Play someone!!!!!!!!! You guys haven't played a decent team yet! When TSD is the only school u play with a winning record something is wrong!!!! Cosby is O.K. but Flatford got out while the gettin is good mark my words! Blakley is a STAR!! i will say that! he needs some credit on this site!!! but don't over rate ur selves. play someone first! beating hancock.............wow :o

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we have played three descent teams so far...hariman aint bad...GP is pretty good especially at home...and hancock is good at home...but the real challenges ride ahead..as we play morristown east...rockwood...and pigeon forge before tha break...and then two really good teams in a christmas tourney..rutlege and cherokee..and then some team from ky who knows how good they are...so all you haters can deside then if cosby is for real or not...and this is the best team cosby has had in awhile..richard coggins is doing a great job keeping us focused on ourselves...no jealousy...cosby has a hard road to fight to get to tha borro...but we can do it...with timmy down low and three great shooters..its going to be hard for teams to keep up...but we are beatable..so we need to go out and play every night like its tha state championship...and hopefully we will be there...good luck to all teams and fly high eagles....

 

 

Dwight Hewitt #33 :lol:

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