With not much of a scouting report on Morristown East, the Elizabethton Cyclones had to spend the first 16 minutes getting a feel for their opponent.

Once the Cyclones figured the Hurricanes out, it was “Katie, bar the door” for the visitors from Morristown as Elizabethton pulled away down the stretch to take a 15-point victory, 59-44.

“It was a little too much up and down, but our kids handled it well,” said Cyclone head coach Lucas Honeycutt. “Coming off four games, you kind of worry a little bit about their legs, but I think they are plenty resilient. We will need to get plenty of fluids in them and they will be okay.

“Especially this team with the firepower they have, I think our defense was pretty tough tonight. It took us a little bit of time to figure out what their habits were and were just trying to learn them.”

Elizabethton (14-3) used its inside-outside punch and jab on their opponents early on as Michael Robinson was filling the basket from the outside while Hayden Townsend and Alex Norwood were laying the body jabs on the inside racing to a 31-26 halftime advantage.

Connor Jordan did all he could do early on for Morristown East scoring 14 points to keep his team within the five points.

The Elizabethton defense was outstanding in the second half forcing several turnovers while Norwood turned into a beast in the middle rejecting several Hurricane shot attempts and ripping down rebounds on both ends of the court.

“Alex had the best game of his career by far—he played amazing,” Honeycutt said of his senior. “If he can play like that, I think we can win a lot of basketball games.”

With the show of force on the defensive end, the Hurricanes managed only eight points in the third quarter and ten in the final stanza.

Robinson led all scorers in the contest with 22 points. Norwood finished with 15 points.

Townsend closed out with 11 points to make up a trio of Cyclones in double figures.

Jordan closed out the evening with 18 as the only Hurricane in double figures.

Hunter Blanken added seven while Andrew Carpenter finished with five points.

The Cyclones jump into conference play tonight when they host the Rebels of Sullivan South. Honeycutt said it was important to get off to a good start against the visitors from Kingsport.

“We need to get off to a good start and play good defense,” added Honeycutt. “Even though we weren’t real sharp on offense in the first quarter tonight, we were hanging on defense. We have to rebound a little bit better as well.

“It’s one of the things that we have been working on and trying to get better at that.”

Tipoff is around 8 p.m. immediately following the girls’ contest.

——-

Elizabethton, 59-44

Morristown East (44)

Connor Jordan 18, Jacob Ward 3, Hunter Blanken 7, Andrew Carpenter 5, Cameron Rymer 3, Will Westmoreland 2, Ben Crawford 2, Keegan Glenn 3, Layne Atkins 1.

Elizabethton (59)

Adam Cornett 3, Michael Robinson 22, Corey Russell 4, Jacob Turner 2, Hayden Townsend 11, Alex Norwood 15, Jacob Norris 2.

Morristown East….  15   11     8   10 – 44

Elizabethton………. 13   18   16   12 – 59

3-Pt Goals: Morristown East 6 (Connor Jordan 2, Jacob Ward, Keegan Glenn, Hunter Blanken, Cameron Rymer). Elizabethton 1 (Michael Robinson).