Junior guard Isaac Hill broke through for 28 points, eight rebounds and five assists for Unaka on Tuesday night at Snavely gym.

Despite the breakthrough for Hill, the Cloudland Highlanders – behind 26 points from junior forward Robert Leeper – earned a 69-63 Watauga Valley Conference win.

“We played defense down the stretch,” Highlanders head coach Gary Harrison said. “Coach Dugger did a much better job than I did tonight. His kids played hard every possession of the game and I got to give credit to him. Our kids have to learn to give that kind of effort every night. We know that road games in this conference are always tough so I stress to my kids that you have to be at your best night in and night out.”

The Rangers (2-15, 0-3 WVC) opened with sharpshooting from Ryan Johnson who hit a pair of three-balls and Hill who knocked one down as well. Unaka led 21-16 after one period but the ‘Landers came through with a 24-6 second-period splurge led by Leeper whose 12 points led the way for Cloudland (10-4, 3-0).

The Rangers continued to stay with the ‘Landers into the third period and were able to shave four points off the deficit to go into the fourth period down just 54-45.

“This teams’ problem is that they don’t play hard every night,” Rangers head coach Aaron Dugger said. “We are trying to teach these guys to give that kind of effort every night. Some people say that on some night’s you just don’t have it, but I try to convince them that our goal is to give that effort every night.”

Hill opened the fourth period with a trey which – after a free throw from Leeper – was followed by a triple from Will Sexton to make it a 55-51 game at the 6:02 mark. After trading deuces, the ‘Landers forced turnovers on three consecutive Unaka possessions, scoring seven points and opening a 64-53 advantage with 3:35 left in regulation.

A two-pointer from Hill made it a 65-56 contest which was answered by a deuce from Leeper and a basket in the paint from Austin Drew.

“We did a plus-minus analysis on Hill,” Dugger said. “And it turns out we are plus 12 with him on the floor, which shows how much he means to the team. Some of the young guys – maybe afraid to make a mistake – don’t take shots. We are trying to convince them that they need to take those shots.”

Cloudland 69-63

Cloudland (69)

Coffey 8, Birchfield 5, Benfield 2, Hicks 15, Shell 3, Leeper 26, Perrigoy 3, Blair 8.

Unaka (63)

King 2, Johnson 14, Hill 28, Sexton 8, Houghton 2, Drew 6, Ensor 3.

Cloudland 16 24 14 15 – 69

Unaka 21 6 18 18 – 63

3-point goals: C 8 (Hicks 4, Leeper 2, Coffey 1, Perrigoy 1), U 7 (Johnson 3, Sexton 2, Hill 2)