Unaka’s terrific trio came to play on Thursday night up the creek.

Post Colton Chambers had a sensational 31-point night, while Joe Seafross chipped in 21 and Kyler Lewis posted 11. All three worked well together in what was an easy 70-51 victory over possible region tournament opponent Hancock County at Snavely Gym.

It was a great all-around game for Unaka as the assist total was lit up as Searfross and Lewis did a tremendous job finding Chambers in the hole for some easy putbacks.

The three players combined for 63 of Unaka’s 71 points and showed that this a team that is going to be extremely dangerous toward tournament time.

“We play a lot of young kids and at times we have had a lot of freshmen on the floor, and we are getting better even though our record does not show that,” said Unaka head coach Aaron Dugger. “We are trying to get better every game. We have had our ups and downs, but we are starting to play harder for longer stretches. I have told them they are playing just hard enough to lose to North Greene at the buzzer or to South Greene at the end. If we can just play for four quarters we have a chance.

“Colton is a big part of the offense and Kyler was on pace to have a big night before he got into foul trouble,” Dugger added. “We have three kids who can score 30 on any night with Joe, Kyler and Colton for us. They may not dish it off all the time, but they look for each other. That’s big for us because when you have as many young kids as we are mixing in they have to carry the load and they have done that.”

Lewis felt like “the trio” really played well against Hancock and did everything they needed to do to win the game.

“Colton finishes around the rim really well so we look to dish it off any time we can,” said Lewis. “When he can, he kicks out to us.”

Not to be outdone for Unaka on this night was the first half defense that propelled the Rangers to a 31-17 lead at the half. Unaka’s zone caused fits for Hancock, which was a big key in getting the momentum from the outset.

“We just guarded them really well and we rebounded really well,” said Lewis. “When we out rebound teams we usually end up beating them pretty good. Guarding the ball and blocking out after the shot really is the key to our defense.”

GIRLS

Unaka 74, Hancock County 20

Twenty-one years ago during the 94-95 season, the Unaka Lady Rangers pulled off one of the more memorable upsets in Carter County in the 1990s, when Unaka upset then No. 3 ranked in the state Hancock County.

As a song being played on an area radio station these days says, “That was then, this is now.”

Hancock County is a totally different program in 2016 and Unaka is riding high once again under the leadership of Kenneth Chambers and the result was definitely not a surprise this time that the Lady Rangers beat the Lady Indians.

Unaka raced out to a 15-0 lead and by halftime, held a 44-13 advantage.

Unaka head coach Kenneth Chambers called off the starters early, and since he plays a lot of girls everyone got to bask in the glow of victory.

“It was a great team effort to come out and play hard, and we had great intensity,” said Chambers. “This was one of our last home games so we wanted to come out and play hard. I thought we did a really good job defensively and we did what we needed to do.”

Katlyn Burrow topped Unaka with 14 and Katlyn Weaver and Hannah Tipton both hit double figures respectively with 13 and 12.

Unaka will travel to University High for the final Watauga Valley games of the season for the Rangers and Lady Rangers.