If Friday night is any indication, things should be tight in the Three Rivers Conference all season long. Elizabethton continued unbeaten in the TRC with a 60-50 victory over Johnson County at Treadway gymnasium.

The Cyclones (3-3 overall, 2-0 TRC) led 32-29 at the break behind solid defense and 12 points from senior post Bo Pless.

“Bo is a gamer,” Cyclones head coach Lucas Honeycutt said. “The three he made in the third period was big. Sometimes there are just plays in a game where things are going to get busted open and that three popped the pressure off and the kids played a lot looser after that.”

Freshman guard Blake Atwood jump started the Longhorns offense in the second period with 10 points including knocking down a long three.

Bud Icenhour knocked down a three-ball to open the third period and tie the score at 32-32, but EHS guard Tre McCrary answered at the other end. The back and forth continued through most of the third period with EHS leading 40-35 at the 2:37 mark.

Michael Robinson drove to the hoop for a bucket for EHS and the ‘Horns turned it over on their next trip down the floor. Pless then dropped in a trey from the corner for a 45-35 Cyclones lead going into the fourth quarter.

Johnson County (1-6, 0-1) cut the Cyclones lead to five points early in the fourth quarter on a pair of buckets from Cody Bailie and a deuce from Caleb Throop to make it a 47-42 contest at the 4:47 mark. Jalen Smith answered for EHS with a three point play to give the Cyclones an eight point advantage at 50-42.

“Jalen is learning on the fly,” Honeycutt said. “He’s not got to play a lot of varsity minutes, but he is just blossoming day by day. He hits some unbelievable shots. Sometimes you don’t know if he has control of it but he makes them. I thought he did a great job all around.”

Jose Guzman hit one of two from the line but Alex Norwood scored for EHS at the other end for a nine point Cyclone lead. A three-ball from Bailie gave JCHS a bit of life with 1:36 remaining and cut the EHS lead to 52-46, but Robinson’s two free throws pushed the lead back to six.

Robinson scored a game high 16 points including six straight from the charity stripe.

“I like shooting free throws,” Robinson said. “That and three’s. We knew coming in that Johnson County is a good team and we aren’t going to overlook anyone. We still have things we can do better and over Christmas we will practice a lot and just try to keep getting better as the season goes on.”

GIRLS

Elizabethton 98, Johnson County 26

From the outset the Lady Cyclones (3-0, 1-0 TRC) left no doubt to the outcome of this contest with a 32-5 first period run. Senior forward Kayla Marosites scored 18 of her 26 points in the period hitting on four three-balls with a pair of three point plays thrown in the mix.

EHS extended to a 44-14 lead by halftime with Marosites scoring 23 by the break. She also collected six steals and seven rebounds in the first half. Johnson County (1-5, 0-1 TRC) got a trey in the second period from Kelsie Terrill as the Lady Longhorns played better in the second period but could not overcome the 16 turnovers the Cyclone press forced on them.

“I thought our intensity level was good,” Lady Cyclones head coach Len Dugger said. “From a defensive standpoint we executed our press well. We moved very well in the press. Offensively, the thing I was most impressed about was we made a lot of extra passes to get better shots.”

In the third period EHS once again turned on the press and predictably the Johnson County turnovers followed. The Cyclones went on a 29-0 run to open the stanza and take a 72-14 lead with 2:59 left in the quarter.

Kelsie Duperry scored a basket for JCHS to end the landslide of EHS points. The third period ended with EHS leading 81-16 after a 37-2 quarter.

Kayla Marosites finished with 26 points, followed by Kelci Marosites with 20. Emily Schubert had a double double with 10 points and 11 rebounds. She also had seven assists.

“We want Emily to be hungry,” Dugger said. “She is a tremendous passer and she protects the rim. Shoe – we call her shoe – led the team in assists tonight, and really every kid contributed.”

GIRLS

EHS 98-26

Johnson Co. (26)

B. Brooks 2, C. Brooks 3, Duperry 2, Forrester 2, Terrill 6, Nichols 2, Miller 2, Cole 5, Cretsinger 2.

EHS (98)

Ka. Marosites 26, Ke. Marosites 20, Perry 6, Kiser 7, Schubert 10, Burleson 6, Lyon 3, Montgomery 4, Campbell 13, Depew 3.

Johnson Co. 5 9 2 10 – 26

Elizabethton 32 12 37 17 – 98

3-point goals: JC 1-6 (C. Brooks 0-1, Terrill 1-1, Cretsinger 0-4), EHS 12-17 (Ka. Marosites 5-5, Ke. Marosites 4-5, Perry 0-2, Kiser 1-3, Burleson 1-2, Lyon 1-1, Depew 1-1)

BOYS

EHS 60-50

Johnson Co. (50)

Icenhour 4, Atwood 10, Guzman 11, Throop 4, Bailie 15, Houser 2.

EHS (60)

Robinson 16, McCrary 8, Smith 9, Townsend 4, Norwood 6, Pless 15, Wilson 2.

Johnson Co. 9 20 6 15 – 50

Elizabethton 14 18 13 15 – 60

3-point goals: JC 3-10 (Icenhour 1-2, Atwood 1-2, Vannoy 0-1, Guzman 1-4, Bailie 1-1), EHS 3- 11 (Robinson 1-5, McCrary 0-1, Townsend 0-1, Pless 2-3, Cornett 0-1).