KINGSPORT – On day two of the Kelly Services Christmas basketball tournament played at J. Richard Carroll gymnasium, the Happy Valley Warriors strong defensive effort paid off in a 56-39 victory over Cloudland.

Cloudland (4-8 overall) played without senior post Josh Blair, guard Hunter Shell and guard Bentley Gilbert who twisted an ankle in the first period and did not return. Happy Valley (3-11 overall) used a zone defense and a full-court press to their advantage forcing 19 ‘Landers turnovers and turned a good many of those turnovers into points on the other end of the floor.

“We put some pieces together tonight,” Warriors head coach Jeremy Maddox said. “I like what we did. I thought our full-court zone gave them some trouble early and our half-court zone I thought kept them in front of us. It’s easier to play zone versus man to man and harder for them to find openings. I know they played a little down, but when you are struggling you take whatever you can get.”

Forward James Harmon gave HV a lift in the second period with nine points and three offensive rebounds that went for putback buckets and Maddox said of his efforts, “James is a can be really good. We expect a little more out of him, because I don’t think understands how good he can be. That’s what we are trying to get him to understand is to relax and sometimes he gets where he tries too hard.”

HV took a 34-22 lead at the break and was not threatened from there. The Warriors extended to a 46-29 lead going into the final quarter, but Cloudland gave them a bit of a scare by opening the stanza with six straight points to cut the deficit to 46-35 with 6:01 left in regulation.

“We struggled a little offensively, but a lot of kids got some minutes, and that may help us down the road,” ‘Landers head coach Gary Harrison said. “We have to do a better job rebounding and have to keep working to get better. Credit Happy Valley they came in hungry for a win. I think that we can do a better job of rebounding the ball a little better. There were times we got stops but they would get a putback and if you take those possessions away it might have been a different ball game.”

Post Elijah Blair scored 10 points to lead the ‘Landers with seniors Robert Leeper and Dillon Johnson each adding eight while senior post Bryce Carter led all scorers with 14 points for HV.

Harmon added 11 and guard Dylan Willis had nine for HV.

Kelly Service Tournament

J. Richard Carroll gymnasium

Sullivan North H.S.

Happy Valley 56-39

Cloudland (39)

Birchfield 2, Barnett 3, Lacy 4, Leeper 8, E. Blair 10, Johnson 8, Arnold 4.

Happy Valley (56)

Willis 9, Stevens 6, Mounts 3, Cochran 2, Carter 14, Roberts 2, Tittle 2, Young 5, Harmon 11, Miller 2.

Cloudland 9 13 7 10 – 39

Happy Valley 12 22 12 10 – 56

3-point goals: C 2 (Johnson 2), HV 2 (Willis 1, Young 1).