2019 ARBY’S CLASSIC Bear attack… Cyclones don’t have enough guns to take down Sevier Co., 67-30

Published 12:38 am Tuesday, December 31, 2019

By Ivan Sanders

BY IVAN SANDERS
STAR SPORTS EDITOR
ivan.sanders@elizabethton.com
BRISTOL – After having to play a very talented Webb School Feet team to open the 2019 Arby’s Classic, the Elizabethton Cyclones were hoping to have a better showing on Day 2 of the tournament when they took on the Sevier County Smoky Bears in the bracket leading to sixth place.
Unfortunately for Coach Lucas Honeycutt and his squad, they just didn’t have enough weapons available to take down a group of hungry Bears as the Cyclones bowed out of the tournament with a 67-30 defeat.
“I hope that we are learning something because there were times in this game where I felt like we were whipped a lot of times effort-wise,” said a disappointed Honeycutt. “That’s something that we usually pride ourselves on.
“We want to play hard and have played a lot of good competition with only one team having a losing record. It was tough from the get-go and we knew it was going to be tough because of having some of our guys injured. We are a lot younger and there is little to no varsity experience out there except for Nico Ashley.
“We are going to figure something out in our practices.”
The Cyclones didn’t play to shabby in the first half as Elizabethton only trailed 15-8 after one quarter of action and 31-17 at the half which is a manageable deficit.
However, the Smoky Bears pretty much sealed the win in the third quarter putting up 21 points to only 10 for the Cyclones and putting the final nail in the coffin with a 15-3 fourth period blitz.
Ashley was the only Cyclone to reach double figures in the contest as the senior hung 15 points in his scoring column including another rim shaker in the first half.
Only four players scored for Elizabethton in the game as Jordan Haynes followed Ashley with seven points while Donta Earnest and Jake Roberts scored six and two points respectively.
Earnest played solidly in the game adding six rebounds, two assists, and two steals to go along with his point output.
“Since I have been playing some faster and stronger kids I have had to learn how to slide back and do the small things,” said Earnest. “Usually I have been rebounding and passing the basketball but I do need to learn how to score more to.
“I have to have more confidence in myself when I shoot the basketball. They (Sevier Co.) have a really good team and set hard screens. They were big and athletic and were hard to box out but we still have to learn how to do that.”
While the Cyclones struggled to score, the Smoky Bears had nine players record points in the contest led by Camden McElhaney who totaled 17 points in the contest.
Jonathan Zhao-Olmos added 15 hitting 3-of-5 from the three-point line while Wes Maples pitched in with 13 points.
The Cyclones now prepare to travel to Mountain Heritage, NC on Friday and then host Happy Valley on Saturday in a rescheduled contest.

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