Kyle Cloninger and the Morristown East Hurricane fell to Rossview, 64-43, on Wednesday, March 13, in the Class 4A state quarterfinals at MTSU’s Murphy Center in Murfreesboro, Tenn. (Photo by Danny Parker)
BY JESSE SMITHEY
MURFREESBORO — Checking out of his final high school game with 3 minutes, 32 seconds to go, most certainly wasn’t how Kyle Cloninger expected to go out. The Morristown East senior guard — the program’s all-time leading scorer — had pushed the program to unfamiliar heights in his final season, getting the Hurricanes back to state for the first time since 1979.
After beating Bearden on his game-winner in the state sectionals, Cloninger and company had envisioned winning Wednesday against Rossview and staying a little longer in Murfreesboro to see just how far they could take this trip.
But Rossview broke free from Morristown East’s upset bid in the second half en route to a 64-43 win.
Cloninger, cognizant of the reserves from East who were set to check in at the scorer’s table, bumped a Rossview guard who was bringing the ball up court. That foul call stopped play and got the reserves into the game.
He went down the bench and showed his appreciation for every coach and teammate before heading back to the cooler behind the bench to start rehydrating.
Cloninger scored a team-high 17 points, grabbed eight rebounds with three assists and two blocks, but Morristown East couldn’t withstand Rossview’s second-half surge in the Class 4A state quarterfinal at MTSU’s Murphy Center.
“You don’t see the player he is without seeing the person he is every single day, especially with how he walks the halls and how his teammates respect him and love on him and how he reciprocates that because’s he’s a good human being,” said East coach Brice Cusick. “He’s a special young man that all the little fourth-graders and fifth-graders, they have someone they can look up to. Not only Kyle but the whole senior class, they been great kids and role models for those kids to look up to. It starts at the top and trickles down.”
One of the top workplaces in East Tennessee now 7 years running, SmartBank is the proud sponsor of 5Star Preps postseason basketball coverage.
Having not played a state tournament game since 1979, Morristown East (29-9) certainly showed no signs from the jump of the moment being too big.
The Hurricanes made their first three 3-pointers and quickly darted to a 9-4 lead. Mason Smith started it all, burying a deep 3 just 26 seconds into the contest. Nicholas Dougherty popped one in a minute later, and Cloninger joined in, too. His 3 at the 5:55 mark of the first made for that 9-4 advantage.
“We knew coming in they had three guys who had hid 70 3s, plus. So, we knew we had to defend that,” Rossview coach Johnny Jackson said. “We know they take pretty much nothing but 3s or layups. There’s no in-between with them.
“They run so many sets to get their guys 3s. When they came out and hit them early, I was like, ‘Alright, we just have to weather the storm.'”
Jackson was right. East was a team with an offense predicated upon perimeter shots, as it had made 294 total entering state tournament week. But after its hot start Wednesday, East missed its next nine from the arc.
That didn’t leave the Canes out of it against state-rookie Rossview (25-9), though.
When Cloninger snapped the cold streak from deep with 3:24 left in the half, that shot trimmed Rossview’s lead to 21-19. He had 13 in the first half.
Smith made 3s at the 2:31 mark and 1:11 mark in the second quarter to bring Morristown East to within a point. He had nine first-half points and finished with 12.
And Keegan Mink’s 3-point play with 27 seconds before the break once again allowed the Canes to cut Rossview’s advantage to just a point (29-28).
“We’ve found ourselves down a couple times this year, and they’ve fought their way back every single time,” Cusick said. “That’s the kind of kids these guys are. Just gritty. Hard-working. Great kids who know how to get the job done.
“Tonight, it’s just one of those days where it just doesn’t happen.”
Landon Hankemeier, who wow’d the crowd with a thunderous dunk down the lane in the first half, scored on a layup with 12 seconds remaining to give the Hawks their 31-28 halftime advantage.
Rossview came out as the primary aggressor to start the third, making their first four field-goal attempts and using a 10-0 run to extend their lead to 41-28 in only three minutes.
The rest of the third proved to be a blur for East, full of Rossview dunks, highlight plays and 8-for-12 shooting.
The Canes made just two shots in the third and trailed 51-35 with eight minutes to play.
It got no better down the stretch. East wound up making just 5 of 28 shots in the second half.
“When we don’t hit the 3, which we’ve done a couple times this year, we’ve found ways to win,” Cusick said. “And, like I said, Rossview’s defense was incredible. We had good looks. They just didn’t go down.”
BOX: Rossview 64, Morristown East 43
Rossview (64): Jiyair Rose 7, Cameron Ward 16, Quamond Linsey 12, Landon Hankmeier 14, Jacob Edwards 12, Roland Morton 2, Michael Lawton 1
MoEast (43): Kyle Cloninger 17, Mason Smith 12, Keegan Mink 3, Nicholas Dougherty 3, Parker Spoone 2, Blake Creech 1, Brice Epps 2, Billy Hubbard 3.
Rossview 17 14 20 13 — 64
Mo East 14 14 7 8 — 43
FG percentage: Rossview 25-58 (43.1 percent), Morristown East 15-52 (28.8)
3-pointers: Rossview (4 of 14) — Rose 2, Ward, Linsey; Morristown East (8 of 35) — Cloninger 2, Smith 4, Dougherty, Hubbard
Free Throws: Rossview 10-16, MoEast 5-9
Rebounds: Rossview 38, MoEast 34
Turnovers: Rossview 7, MoEasat 17