BRISTOL, Tenn. — The Unicoi County boys basketball team could’ve taken a giant step toward an Upper Lakes Conference title and the Blue Devils girls team could’ve essentially sealed up the No. 2 seed for the district tournament, but Tennessee High had other ideas Friday night at Viking Hall.
The Vikings boys and girls teams each completed regular-season sweeps of the Blue Devils.
Brandon Dufore scored 16 points and Creed Musick added 15 as Tennessee High (3-2, 18-6) bounced back from a 14-6 deficit for a 56-48 victory.
The girls got 18 and 16 points, respectively, from Kendall Cross and Anna Kate Kinch in a 56-52 win.
The Blue Devils boys (4-2, 18-7), the preseason favorite, came out with fire in their eyes after absorbing a 79-57 whipping from the Vikings on Jan. 10 in Erwin. But Tennessee High coach Michael McMeans took a timeout after the early barrage and settled emotions, some of which were stoked by recruiting comments made by Unicoi County coach Jordan Simmons following the previous meeting.
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“It was really just to calm ‘em down,” McMeans said. “We were full of emotion too. We were jacked up and it caused us to overshoot a lot of our shots.
“And you knew they were gonna come out hot. I mean, they had to. So we took a timeout and calmed ‘em down and refocused there.”
The Vikings responded with a 23-8 run that led to a 29-22 lead with 5:46 left in the third quarter. The 6-foot-6 Dufore started the run with a 3-pointer after a kick-out from Maddox Fritts and point guard Colin Brown (13 points) concluded it with five straight points.
Unicoi County 6-foot-5 post Lucas Slagle, who led the Blue Devils with 14 points, made 1 of 2 free throws to cut the Vikings’ lead to 41-40 with 6:22 to go. And his mid-range jumper answered two Musick free throws to get the Blue Devils within 43-42 with 4:49 remaining.
But Brown answered with a crowd-pleasing driving scoop and Dufore followed with a 3-pointer and put-back to stretch the lead to 50-42 with 2:20 left.
The Blue Devils’ Kolby Jones got a good look at a 3-pointer from the left wing which would’ve cut the lead to 53-51 with 20 seconds left, but couldn’t convert. Musick made a pair of free throws with 17.9 seconds left to make it 55-48 and nail down the victory.
“I thought Brandon was the key there in the third quarter,” McMeans said. “I thought he got some big rebounds for us. He just got us started in the third quarter. When he goes and he’s in attack mode like that and finishing around the rim, it gets everybody else going. There’s just something about him that when he’s really playing hard and doing stuff like that, the rest of the guys on our team start stepping up.
“And then Colin knocked down a couple of shots. And when he sees one go in, you know, the rim gets huge for him. He sets people up.”
McMeans also commended sophomore Zander Phillips for coming out aggressive and scoring two early baskets.
Jones scored 10 points for Unicoi County. Eli Johnson and Jackson Simmons added nine apiece. The Blue Devils were 5-for-11 at the foul line.
“We didn’t take advantage of opportunities and they did,” Blue Devils coach Jordan Simmons said. “We have layups and free throws that we’re not converting, and you can’t do that against a good team. And then we’re giving them second and third shots and it seems like every 50-50 ball.
“We missed so many point-blank ones early. We easily could’ve been up 15. … But I thought defensively we were much better tonight than the last time we played ‘em.”
Tennessee High’s sweep of the Devils looms large in the league race.
“This allows us to have the tiebreaker against them if we win out,” McMeans said. “But in this conference, it’s gonna go down to the last day.”
GIRLS
Tennessee High 56, Unicoi County 52
In the girls game, the Vikings completed their sweep after winning in overtime at Unicoi County. Overtime looked like a good possibility in the rematch, too.
Kendall Cross’ slashed through the Blue Devils zone to make a difficult leaner that tied the score, 46-46, with 4:08 left. It ignited a 9-2 run that Brooklyn Carter capped with a transition basket for a 53-46 lead with 1:22 to go.
But the Vikings (3-2, 12-12) began spewing turnovers and their lead had shrunk to 53-52 when Haley Rush made 1 of 2 foul shots with 27 seconds to go.
Cross made 3 of 4 free throws in the final 23.8 seconds and the Blue Devils (3-3, 13-11) didn’t get a good look at the basket in between her two trips to the foul line.
“It’s a great win,” Vikings coach Amanda Vance said. “For the most part, I think we kept our composure when we were down and just kept executing offense. We had those turnovers at the end when they started pressing, but other than that I think we kept our composure. And I think that’s what ultimately (won it). We set our offense and were able to execute it.”
Janel Tabor had nine points and 14 rebounds for the Vikings. Cross had six rebounds and five assists.
Lingerfelt led Unicoi County with 14 points. Jocelyn Metcalf and Olivia Bailey added 12 apiece.
“It was a great opportunity for us to take a step as a program in the right direction, but we just didn’t get the job done tonight,” Blue Devils coach Brandon Broyles said. “I think we’ll probably see them again in the district tournament. Coach Vance has done a great job. They were just more physical than us tonight. They played hard and got the job done. We had our chances.”