Coach Ken Wright of the Sevier County Smoky Bears. (Photo by Danny Parker)
By MIKE BLACKERBY
MORRISTOWN – Kingsport Dobyns-Bennett flipped the switch at halftime Tuesday and knocked Sevier County out of the Region 1-AAA tournament at Morristown East High School.
The Indians overcame a five-point halftime deficit to eliminate the Smoky Bears, 71-62.
D-B (19-12) advances to Thursday’s region title game at Science Hill while Sevier County finishes its season 21-8.
The Indians outscored the Smoky Bears 44-30 in a dominating second-half performance, ending any hopes of Sevier County advancing and having a shot at returning to the Class AAA state tournament for a second consecutive season.
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“They out-toughed us in the second half,” said Sevier County coach Ken Wright.
“Their mental toughness was better than ours and they killed us on the boards. They brought it a lot harder than us in the second half.”
SC led 32-27 at the half thanks largely to Wes Maples.
The 6-3 senior wing poured in 14 of his 20 first-half points in the second quarter.
He finished with 30 points on 9-for-14 shooting from the field. Maples was also 8 of 9 from the foul line.
SC looked to be in control when Maples hit a free throw after nailing a 3-point shot from the side to complete a four-point play to put his team up 32-19 with 2:47 to go in the first half.
He wouldn’t attempt another shot the rest of the second quarter as D-B went on an 8-0 run to close the half.
Wright said that sequence got the Indians back in the game heading to the break.
“They (D-B) go on an 8-0 run and Wes doesn’t get any touches,” said Wright.
SC turned the ball over six times in the third quarter as the Indians fed off their late success in the first half.
“We had some crucial turnovers in the third quarter that we hadn’t made all year – and they got run-outs because of it,” said Wright.
Jonathan Zhou, with 13 points, was the only other Smoky Bear to score in double figures. Camden McElhaney was next with seven points.
“We had some guys that couldn’t get rolling (offensively),” said Wright.
D-B also outrebounded the Smoky Bears 22-14.
“They’re a great offensive rebounding team and they just out-efforted us on the boards,” said Wright.
Brady Stump led the Indians with 19 points. He hit 5 of 8 shots, including three 3-pointers.
Malachi Hale attacked the boards hard and had 17 points and seven rebounds.
Jonavon Gillespie added 13 points and Zane Whitson 10 for the Indians.
D-B shot just over 50 percent (22 of 43) and was 20 of 27 from the line.
Wright said it was tough to see his seniors go out with a sub-par showing in the showing half.
“That’s a fantastic group of kids,” said Wright.
“I can’t say enough about these guys. They won something like 85 or 86 games in their careers.”
Science Hill 58, South-Doyle 32
A second-quarter scoring drought was too much for South-Doyle to overcome in the other Tuesday semifinal game.
The Cherokees (22-9) were hanging with the highly regarded Hilltoppers (31-3) early in the second quarter.
S-D senior guard Kendrick Holland sliced through the lane for a basket with 6:33 to play in the first half to tie the score at 14-all.
That’s when S-D went ice cold.
The Cherokees went without a field goal the rest of the quarter as Science Hill build a commanding 32-17 lead at the half.
The closest S-D got the rest of the way was 42-28 late in the third quarter.
“It (the second quarter) was awful,” said Cherokees coach Brian Stewart.
“You’re not going to beat anybody when you score 32 points. We had plenty of opportunities from the free throw line. You better be making them if you’re not making shots from the field.”
S-D was hard pressed to score from the field (10 of 44) or foul line (11 of 23).
“We got every look we could have possibly wanted,” said Stewart.
“We got to the basket and we had open shots from the perimeter. It was maybe the worst shooting game we’ve had all season.”
The news was even worse in the rebounding department.
Science Hill doubled the Cherokees on the boards, 46-23.
“I was really disappointed with our rebounding,” said Stewart.
Holland led the Cherokees with 12 points.
Quentin Carr had six points while Terrell Brown and Terry Sapp netted five each. Sapp led S-D with eight rebounds.
The Hilltoppers were led by the inside tandem of Amare Redd (13 points, 14 rebounds) and Hunter Phillips (12 points, 11 rebounds).
While the ending was disappointing, Stewart said it was a season the program can build on.
“It has been 25 years since we’ve gotten to the (region) semifinals and been about that long since we’ve won 20 games,” he said.
“We’ve done this with a bunch of sophomores and one senior. Kendrick is a huge loss, but we bring everybody else back next year,” continued Stewart.
“I’m very pleased with our season. I just hate that it ended with us not playing to the level we’re capable of.”