ELIZABETHTON, Tenn. – Volunteer went from the pigtail game to hogging the hardware at the District 1-AAA boys basketball tournament.
The fourth-seeded Falcons completed their run from play-in game to title with a 64-55 comeback victory against Unicoi County in the championship Tuesday night at Treadway Gym.
Tournament Most Valuable Player Bradin Minton scored 27 points, Andrew Knittel anchored the defensive job that held Blue Devils go-to guy Grant Hensley scoreless and the Falcons overcame a 14-point deficit early in the third quarter.
“I think these guys have really found a different gear right now,” Volunteer first-year coach Zac Crawford said. “They know what’s at stake. This has been their whole goal since the time they’ve been here. And to see it come true – holy cow. This is awesome. To bring a district championship back to Church Hill after 22 years, oh my gosh. The last one was 2000-01 under Coach (Todd) Whittemore.”
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Tennessee High, with 6-foot-6 Brandon Dufore back in the lineup after a one-game absence due to back spasms, defeated Sullivan East, 69-49, in the consolation game.
The victory assures the Vikings of not having to beat District 2 champion Greeneville (20-11) to advance to the sectional. Tennessee High will visit Cocke County (18-12) on Saturday.
Sullivan East (14-17) will travel to Greeneville on Saturday.
Senior Creed Musick piled up 35 points for the Vikings, which ended the first half on an 11-3 run to take a 30-22 lead. Musick, sophomore point guard Colin Brown (12 points) and Dufore (14) did all the scoring during the decisive run.
“Those three are special,” Tennessee High coach Michael McMeans said. “When they’re going they’re as good as anybody. And hopefully that’ll take us on down the road a ways here.”
Sullivan East got 15 points from Tyler Cross and 14 from sophomore post Corbin Laisure. Leading scorer Drake Fisher was held to seven points, and only had two when his primary defender, Maddox Fritts, went to the bench late.
“Maddox is great on defense, probably the best defender I’ve seen, to be honest with you,” Musick said. “He played hard tonight. We all played great defense tonight, I thought.
“Especially after that Volunteer game (Saturday), we knew we had to come out ready to go. And we came out with great energy.”
The Vikings led by double digits the final 12:03.
“Tennessee High played great,” East coach Dillon Faver said. “All the guys seemed healthy and on a mission after the first-round loss. They’re fast, talented and play great defense. Hats off to them.”
In the championship, Unicoi County went up 37-23 on Kolby Jones’ 3-pointer with 6:21 left in the third quarter.
Minton answered with a 3-pointer and a driving basket to get the Falcons within single digits 73 seconds later, and the furious rally was just getting started.
Minton’s 14-foot pull-up gave Volunteer the lead for good (56-55) with 3:24 left. The Blue Devils were scoreless the final 3:39.
“We had full faith from the beginning of the season that we had the ability to do this,” Minton said. “We just had to get prepared for tournament time. We got like fourth in the conference but it was no big deal to us, because we knew we could come out to the tournament and play our butts off and win the whole thing. And that’s what we did.”
Andrew Knittel scored 15 points for Volunteer.
Lucas Slagle led Unicoi County with 23 points and what seemed like 12 or 15 rebounds. Jones and fellow freshman Jackson Simmons scored 10 points apiece.
Volunteer will host Cherokee (11-20) on Saturday at 7 p.m. Unicoi County will host Grainger (16-14).