MOUNTAIN CITY— the Elizabethton Cyclones are getting to be no strangers to close games.

For the second consecutive contest in two days, the Cyclones went down to the wire but with a different outcome Saturday in Mountain City as Elizabethton pulled out a 54-50 win against Johnson Co. to close out their Three Rivers Conference regular season.

“I thought we had a few key stops there  just to get us back in rhythm and once we got our rhythm we started to move the ball a lot better,” said Cyclone head coach Lucas Honeycutt on the Cyclones surge in the final half. “Their defensive pressure was tough in those first two quarters, but we finally started to get a few easy shots in the second half.”

The Longhorns (4-7, 9-17) showed why they are considered one of the most frightening opponent come tournament time as they had frustrated the Cyclones (10-2, 16-10) for most of the contest.

Bud Icenhour (11) and Jose Guzman (13) accounted for 24 of the 28 first half points scored by the Longhorns as they built a 28-27 lead over the Cyclones.

Bo Pless and Teve Mushayamunda kept the Cyclones in contention with seven points each while Michael Robinson added five in the first half.

Elizabethton finally responded positively in the third quarter as freshman guard Eric Wilson buried two treys and added a field goal to help the Cyclones pull even at the end of the third stanza, 40-40.

“That’s big that Eric hit those shots,” said Honeycutt. “He’s a freshman and a lot of people play off of him. He’s not been one of our starters most of the year, but he’s come on here as of late and had given us some offense and doing a pretty decent job on defense as well.”

Cody Bailie had the big quarter for Johnson Co. scoring 10 of the Longhorns 12 points in the stanza.

The final eight minutes were a basketball lover’s dream as both teams fought for the lead with the lead see-sawing back and forth the entire quarter.

Elizabethton finally seized control when after a timeout, Mushayamunda took the ball straight to the rim for a deuce and after the Longhorns Icenhour missed a long attempt at a trey, the Cyclones got the ball back and Robinson finished the game with two free throws to seal the win with three seconds remaining.

Mushayamunda led the Cyclone offensive attack with 14 points. Pless followed with 13 points.

Robinson tallied nine while Wilson finished with his best offensive production of the varsity season finishing with eight points.

Guzman was the game’s high scorer hitting for 15 points. Icenhour and Bailie totaled 13 points apiece in the loss.

Girls

Elizabethton….107

Johnson Co. …..17

The Elizabethton Lady Cyclones closed out their regular season slate in fine fashion as Coach Len Dugger’s team overwhelmed the young Lady Longhorns by a 90-point margin, 107-17.

Playing his starting five only three minutes of each quarter, the Lady Cyclones jumped out to a 41-2 lead at the end of one period and were hammer down from there as 11 players hit the scoring column for the black and orange.

Kayla Marosites was 6-of-7 from three-point land for a team-high 24 points to lead six players in double figures for Elizabethton (12-0, 27-0). Emily Kiser added 16 points with Ashley Depew tossing in 15 points off the bench.

Haley Burleson got the start in Kelci Marosites place and scored 12 in the start. Marosites scratched her corneaon Friday night and was sitting out the contest to rest.

Bailey Montgomery knocked down 11 points and Emily Schubert posted 10 in the win. Cam Koroma just missed double figures with eight points.

Destiny Cole led the Lady Longhorns (0-12, 5-25) with six points in the contest.

GIRLS

Elizabethton, 107-17

Elizabethton (107)

Kayla Marosites 24, Emily Kiser 16, Emily Schubert 10, Melenda Perry 3, Haley Burleson 12, Brittany Campbell 3, Ashley Depew 15, Autumn Lyon 2, Bailey Montgomery 11, Cam Koroma 8, Morgan Jones 3 .

Johnson Co. (17)

Kelsie Terrill 2, Destiny Cole 6, Michala Cretsinger 2, Britain Peele 4, Gloria McIver 3.

Elizabethton……41  25   20   21 – 107

Johnson Co..…… 2    6      0     9 –  17

3-PT GOALS: Elizabethton 12 (Kayla Marosites 6, Emily Kiser 2, Melenda Perry, Ashley Depew 2). Johnson Co. 1 (Gloria McIver).

 

BOYS

Elizabethton, 54-50

Elizabethton (54)

Michael Robinson 9, Teve Mushayamunda 14, Jalen Smith 2, Hayden Townsend 2, Eric Wilson 8, Alex Norwood 2, Bo Pless 13, Carter Everett 4.

Johnson Co. (50)

Bud Icenhour 13, Jose Guzman 15, Nathan Arnold 5, Brandon Vannoy 4, Cody Bailie 13.

Elizabethton…….  8   19   13   14 – 54

Johnson Co..…….15   13   12   10 – 50

3-PT GOALS: Elizabethton 4 (Eric Wilson 2, Bo Pless, Teve Mushayamunda). Johnson Co. 6 (Bud Icenhour 3, Jose Guzman 3).