The Sullivan South Rebels were hoping to spoil the Elizabethton Cyclones homecoming festivities while throwing a monkey wrench into the Cyclones Three Rivers Conference aspirations.

South made two solid runs but the Cyclones stood their ground to  remain in a second place tie with Unicoi Co. in Three Rivers Conference action with a 51-48 win inside John Treadway Gym.

Behind a raucous homecoming crowd and a student body that finally showed up with tons of energy, the Cyclones came out of the gates quickly looking to feed off the crowd’s excitement.

The Cyclones (12-9, 6-2) worked out to an 11-9 edge after one and a 26-20 halftime advantage behind seven points from Michael Robinson and six by Teve Mushayamunda.

South (8-14, 2-6)  fought to keep the game from getting away as Garrett Bowery found the net for seven first-half points. Grant Phebus and Evan Morris added four points each with Morris knocking down a field goal as the halftime horn sounded.

South  came out of the locker room and narrowed the lead to one in the third on a trey by Phebus. A timeout by Elizabethton coach Lucas Honeycutt settled his troops and the Cyclone lead grew back to 36-29 with 2:27 left in the third quarter.

The Cyclones managed to add to the lead by quarter’s end behind Bo Pless who had six in the stanza. Elizabethton led 41-32 going into the final period.

The Rebels made one last charge at the Cyclones as Bowery connected on two treys and a field goal for eight points in the quarter. Elizabethton did what any team has to do down the stretch and that was hit their foul shots as Robinson hit 2-of-4 in the waning seconds to keep the lead at three.

South had two shots at pulling the game even, but two attempts beyond the arc were off the mark.

“We know how to make it exciting—good or bad,” said Honeycutt after the contest. “I thought our kids did a good job tonight defensively. With our press, I thought we did a good job of being in position to defend.

“All in all it was a huge game for us to keep us in the hunt in the Three Rivers.”

Bowery led all scorers with 17 in the contest. South also got double figures from Matthew Copas who dropped in 13 points for the game. Phebus closed out his night with nine points.

Pless led the Cyclones with 15 points while Robinson finished with 11 and Mushayamunda nine. Alex Norwood worked for eight in the paint as well for ‘Betsy.

“I thought it was a great effort, a pretty good basketball game with both teams playing well in spurts and both teams struggling at times in spurts,” said South head coach Mark Pendleton. “Seems like it has been a common theme here lately as we make a run and then make some mistakes here and there and they go on a run. We kept it close there but just couldn’t get over the hump.”

Honeycutt liked the atmosphere the large crowd created.

“It’s a fun atmosphere when we get this many fans in the gym with homecoming festivities and the kids take a lot of pride in that,” said Honeycutt. “We’ve got kids over there in the stands painted up and whooping and hollering and you can tell the kids just love it. That first half was really special because it felt like a tournament atmosphere.”

Girls

Elizabethton….77

Sullivan South..20

In girls’ action, the state’s number one-ranked team in Class AA girls, the Lady Cyclones blew out to a 51-7 advantage at the half and cruised to the 57-point win over the Lady Rebels.

It was a complete team effort as every starter and each bench player brought something special to the table in the contest.

“I thought defensively we came out and started the game with a lot of energy,” said Lady Cyclone head coach Len Dugger. “I thought Kayla, Kelci, and Melenda were all active as well as Emily Kiser who had probably her best night on the press in quite some time. We were active and had our hands up creating deflections.”

Kelci Marosites and Emily Kiser provided the pop in the first half for Elizabethton ( 22-0, 8-0)  scoring 11 and 10 respectively.

Avery Hutchins trey led the Lady Rebels (3-19, 1-7) in the first 16 minutes.

Elizabethton kept coming in the second half outscoring the visitors 26-13 to seal the win.

Kayla Marosites drew closer to the 2,000 point mark for her career by scoring a game-high 18 points leaving her just 35 points shy. Kelci Marosites wasn’t far behind her sister with 16 points for the contest.

Emily Kiser dropped in 13 points and made four steals for Elizabethton with Emily Schubert adding eight points, 14 rebounds and five blocked shots.

Brittany Campbell came off the bench to add five points and sweep the boards for 12 rebounds

The Lady Rebels were led by Avery Hutchins with six points with Madison Townsend and Rachel Yates connecting on a trey apiece for three points.

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GIRLS

Elizabethton, 77-20

South (20)

Rachel Yates 3, Mollie Leslie 2, Ashley Hallock 2, Emily Ireson 2, Avery Hutchins 6, Madison Townsend 3, Malayna Johnson 2.

Elizabethton (77)

Kayla Marosites 18, Kelci Marosites 16, Emily Kiser 13, Emily Schubert 8, Melenda Perry 5, Haley Burleson 8, Brittany Campbell 5, Bailey Montgomery 1, Ashley Depew 3.

Sullivan South……   4     3     8   5 – 20

Elizabethton………26   25   18   8 – 77

3-PT GOALS:  South 3 (Avery Hutchins 2, Rachel Yates). Elizabethton 11 (Kayla Marosites 2, Kelci Marosites 4, Emily Kiser 3, Melenda Perry, Ashley Depew).

 

BOYS

Elizabethton, 51-48

South (48)

Matthew Copas 13, Evan Morris 6, Grant Phebus 9, Garrett Bowery 17, Weldon Carico 2, Jeffrey Depew 1.

Elizabethton (51)

Michael Robinson 11, Teve Mushayamunda 9, Jalen Smith 2, Hayden Townsend 4, Eric Wilson 2, Alex Norwood 8, Bo Pless 15.

Sullivan South…… 9   11   12   16 – 48

Elizabethton………11   15   15   10 – 51

3-PT GOALS:  South 4 (Grant Phebus, Garrett Bowery 3). Elizabethton 2 (Bo Pless, Michael Robinson).