It was showdown time inside John Treadway Gym Friday night as the two top teams in the Three Rivers Conference met in the first of two regular-season contest.

It was a knock down and drag out contest in the night’s finale as the Elizabethton Cyclones took a 23-20 halftime advantage, but anyone that knows Sullivan East basketball and the dean of high school basketball coaches in Coach John Dyer knew the game had a long way to go.

And four quarters wasn’t going to settle the issue before a raucous Cyclone crowd that hung around after the girls contest to witness a game that came down to the wire in overtime as the Patriots took the win in a tournament environment, 49-48.

“It’s a disappointing loss, but I am proud of the way our kids fought back and battled there when they took the lead,” said Cyclone head coach Lucas Honeycutt. “We scrapped to make it an overtime game which was huge. Foul trouble made it difficult on us as we played a lot of different people.

“We had to go to our bench early and played some of the young guys including freshmen that we didn’t expect to have to play tonight,” added Honeycutt. “Overall just proud of their effort, but we have to execute better.”

East (3-0, 13-5) battled back to knot the score at 33-33 at the end of third quarter behind the strong play of post Cole Green who knocked down five in the frame to lead the Patriots back.

However, Elizabethton’s Bo Pless kept his team in striking distance in the fourth sinking eight points to push the game to overtime as Green’s desperation three fell short at regulation.

Michael Robinson came out of the gate and buried two field goals to edge the Cyclones (3-1, 8-7) out front 48-44 before Gavin Grubb’s bucket pulled the Patriots within two with 1:35 left to play.

Grubb then tied the game at 48-all with 48 seconds left in the overtime period.

A Green rejection of a Hayden Townsend drive to the goal gave the Patriots the ball with 38.9 seconds on the clock when Dyer called a timeout.

Grubb was fouled on a drive to the bucket with four seconds remaining to play and sank 1-of-2 free throws to give the Patriots the one-point win, 49-48, as Townsend’s last second heave was just left of the basket.

Green led all scorers with 20 points and 10 rebounds to lead his team to the win. Grubb was the only other Patriot to break double digits with 15, including the game winner.

“I thought it was just a hard fought basketball game between two teams wanting to win,” said Dyer after the contest. “We got down early, but we got the ball inside and Cole Green was tremendous in there, and these conference games are real battles. I am real proud of our guys. It’s exciting just to come over here and get a win against a very, very good basketball team.”

Pless was high man for the Cyclones with 19—ten coming in the second half. Robinson tickled the twine on his way to 16 points as well for the Cyclones.

Girls

Elizabethton……62

Sullivan East……34

In the night’s first contest, most thought that the Elizabethton Lady Cyclones would come out and dominate the visiting Sullivan East Lady Patriots with ease.

However, the Lady Cyclones found East taking defense to that thought as Elizabethton overcame a one-point deficit early in the first half to build a 29-18 halftime lead and then did what they do best by locking down defensively in the second half on the Lady Patriots to win 62-34.

“I thought we were playing hard in the first half, but my hat is off to Coach Aubry and his kids because I thought they just got after us,” said Lady Cyclone head coach Len Dugger. “The effort they gave was really good, and they just came to play.

“I thought in the second half we hit another gear and done a little better on both ends of the court,” added Dugger. “Early on I thought our press was good, but we were giving them a lot of second chance opportunities because we didn’t rebound as well as we can.”

The Lady Cyclones (4-0, 16-0) ran out to a 13-0 lead after four minutes of action and then saw the Lady Patriots (2-1, 13-6) play stout defense and outhustle Elizabethton on the floor to take a one-point lead around the four minute mark of the second quarter.

‘Betsy then put together a nice little scoring spurt after struggling for seven minutes to only put two on the scoreboard.

Kayla Marosites finished off the half in fine fashion nailing a trey with eight seconds left in the half and then stole the basketball and hit a layup as the horn sounded to build the Lady Cyclone advantage to 11 at the break.

Coming out of the break, Dugger’s team was back to its old self as the Lady Cyclones turned rebounds and Lady Patriot turnovers into buckets to gradually gain separation and roll to the win.

Elizabethton outscored East 33-16 in the last 16 minutes of play.

Kayla Marosites kept rolling up her career-point total by scoring a game-high 32 points hitting six threes.  Post Emily Schubert was the only other Lady Cyclone in double figures working the paint for 11—nine coming in the second half.

Kara Stafford’s 13 points led the Lady Patriots in the contest. Brandy Watkins dropped in 12 in a contributing role.

“We took a time out and kind of regrouped and got back to what we wanted to do defensively,” said Lady Patriot coach Allan Aubrey. “I think down the stretch we just didn’t rebound, and you can’t give up second shots to a team like Elizabethton.”

The Lady Cyclones hit the court again tonight as they play host to the Daniel Boone Lady Blazers. Game time is 7 pm.

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Boys

Sullivan East, 49-48

Sullivan East (49)

Gavin Grubb 15, Garet Johnson 7, Peyton Kegley 1, Hunter Owens 4, Hunter Davis 2, Cole Green 20.

Elizabethton (48)

Adam Cornett 4, Michael Robinson 16, Teve Mushayamunda 2, Jalen Smith 6, Hayden Townsend 1, Bo Pless 19.

Sullivan East…… 10   10   13   11   5 – 49

Elizabethton……. 12   11   10   11   4 – 48

3-PT GOALS: Sullivan East 4 (Garet Johnson, Gavin Grubb 2, Hunter Owens). Elizabethton 2 (Michael Robinson 2).

 

Girls

Elizabethton, 62-34

Sullivan East (34)

Kara Stafford 13, Megan Addison 6, Brandy Watkins 12, Caitlin Stewart 3.

Elizabethton (62)

Kayla Marosites 32, Kelci Marosites 5, Emily Kiser 6, Emily Schubert 11, Haley Burleson 7, Brittany Campbell 1.

Sullivan East…… 10    8   10    6 – 34

Elizabethton……. 15  14   17  16 – 62

3-PT GOALS: Sullivan East 5 (Brandy Watkins 2, Megan Addison 2, Caitlin Stewart). Elizabethton 10 (Kayla Marosites 6, Kelci Marosites, Emily Kiser 2, Haley Burleson.