Unicoi County’s Grant Hensley, 23, drives to the bucket against Daniel Boone’s Griffin Erickson during Thursday night’s high school basketball contest in Gray. Hensley set the pace offensively for the Blue Devils (11-2), finishing with 19 points in the 67-52 win over the Trailblazers.
Unicoi County’s Grant Hensley, 23, drives to the bucket against Daniel Boone’s Griffin Erickson during Thursday night’s high school basketball contest in Gray. Hensley set the pace offensively for the Blue Devils (11-2), finishing with 19 points in the 67-52 win over the Trailblazers.
GRAY — A string of 10 straight points to start the fourth quarter was the difference in Thursday’s nonconference game at Bobby Snyder Gymnasium, as Unicoi County downed its third different Big Five foe of the season.
The Blue Devils downed Daniel Boone 67-52 behind a balanced scoring attack that saw four players reach double-figures.
Unicoi County (11-2) was an impressive 6-for-7 in the final period and 9-of-12 from the charity stripe while Boone missed its first four shots of the final stanza.
“We did a good job of switching guys on Jamar (Livingston) throughout the game,” Unicoi County coach Jordan Simmons said. “This was the most physical team we’ve played all season and this is a really good win for us.”
Grant Hensley led the way for Unicoi with 19 points while Eli Johnson (13), Kolby Jones (11) and Jackson Simmons (10) rounded out the high-scoring foursome.
Erwin shot an efficient 25-for-49 from the field.
“We’ve got five guys on any night that can get 20,” Simmons said. “That’s a luxury for us and I think we’ve got a lot of guys that can do the job defensively as well.”
Boone (4-4) was led by Livingston’s game-high 27, but he was 11-for-30 from the field and was 0-for-13 shots from long range.
The Trailblazers were a woeful 19-for-57 from the field and committed 14 turnovers.
“Jamar scores 27 points, but he didn’t shoot it well, but we can’t put all that on him,” Boone coach Chris Brown said. “He’s not Superman and he’s not going to hit every shot.
“We have to have other guys hitting shots for us.”
Girls Daniel Boone 53 Unicoi Co. 45
A string of clutch buckets to start the fourth quarter helped Boone (9-3) escape a deadlock after three periods.
Freshman Andrea Flores netted two of them and Kaylee Cox had the other as Boone pulled away to begin the period. Flores finished with a game-high 21 points as the Lady Trailblazers held Unicoi to 17-for-45 from the field.
“At this point in the season, wins like this are going to help us down the road,” Boone first-year coach Justin Humphries said. “They’ve played us extremely tough and they were coming off of that big win against Science Hill.
“We struggled offensively tonight, but I give a lot of credit to Unicoi’s defense.”
Allie Lingerfelt led the Lady Blue Devils (7-6) with 19 points while Olivia Bailey had 10.
The Lady ‘Blazers didn’t do much better on offense, going 18-for-55 from the field with 16 turnovers.
“They sat back in that zone and they forced us to shoot,” Humphries said. “We finally found a way to win.”
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