Rangers come up on the short end of stick to Sullivan East, 80-60
Published 12:33 am Wednesday, November 20, 2019
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Star Photo/C.Y. Peters Unaka's Devin Ramsey goes up for a baby hook in the paint against Sullivan East.
Star Photo/C.Y. Peters A trio of Rangers surround an East Patriot scrambling for a loose basketball.
BY C.Y. PETERS
STAR CORRESPONDENT
In a rare doubleheader at the high school level, the Unaka Rangers played Sullivan East in the third game of the night inside Snavely Gym Monday evening.
The Patriots put on a show in the second game beating Tri-Cities Christian with ease, scoring 49 points in the first quarter and 69 by the half finishing the game with a total of 99 points.
The 69 points were one more point than Unaka scored in the entire first game.
It was time to face the Rangers as East came out playing a two-one-two zone and quickly jumped out to an 11-5 lead.
Unaka committed four fouls in the first two minutes losing two starters until the second quarter. East would go on to lead at the first stop 17-9. Dylan Bartley scored eight points for East in the period.
Unaka would keep the game close pulling within one, 19-18, before two three’s by the Patriots and a quick steal and just like that, East was back up 27-18.
East would go on a 12-0 run before Will Sexton would score for the Rangers with 1:55 to play in the half. Bartley got hot and hit three treys and scored 14 points in the second to extend East’s lead to 17, 44-27.
Bartley already had scored 22 points in the half which matched his game-high point total against Tri-Cities earlier in the evening.
Unaka hit 9 of 18 shots in the first half but the ten fouls and seven turnovers helped keep East in the lead. The full-court press and the double team from the zone plagued the Rangers in the first half.
Both teams exchanged baskets most of the third quarter with East holding a 20-point lead. When Unaka hit a three, East would score a three.
They would go on to lead 62-43 at the third stop. East would hit six of eight free throws in the quarter while the Rangers were four of nine.
In the fourth quarter, the Patriots built a 25-point lead and then Unaka head coach Aaron Dugger pulled his starters out to give some younger players time on the court.
Unaka would shoot much better from the free-throw line hitting 7-of-8 with the bench shooting seven of the free-throw shots.
The Rangers hit only 17-of-40 from the field and went 18-of-28 from the line. East was 12-of-15 from the line and hit 11 three-pointers for an 80-60 win.
Will Sexton scored 18 for Unaka, Devin Ramsey followed with 11. Bartley led East with 26.
“We played two pretty good teams tonight and our boys played hard,” Dugger stated. “I think we have a chance to be good as the year goes along.
“East is a good basketball team and that’s who we want to play to get ready for our conference schedule.”
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Sullivan East, 80-60
Unaka 9 18 16 18 -60
East 17 28 19 16 -80
Unaka: Sexton 18, Ramsey 11, Johnson 9, Slagle 2, Ensor 2, Blamo 6, Drew 2, Campbell 5.
East: Bradford 16, Hare 5, Weldon 3, Murray 4, Bartley 26, Ivester 6, Montgomery 11. Davis 9.
