Buccaneers hijack Bulldogs championship, Rangers topple Huskies in consolation
Published 6:18 pm Wednesday, February 22, 2023
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Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
These eight Carter County players were named to both the All-Conference and All-Tournament teams. They are from the left Landon Ramsey, Joe-Z Blamo and Mason Wilson from Unaka. Representing Hampton are Cadon Buckles, Hayden Campbell, Michael Anspaugh, Geno Carrico and Dylan Trivett. Cloudland’s Ryan Sexton was also named to the All-Conference team but is not pictured. Buckles was also named a Co-Player of the year for the conference.
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Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
Surrounded by nearly the entire University High defense, Bulldogs Hayden Campbell #34 goes strong to the basket for two early in the first quarter.
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Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
Hampton’s Cadon Buckles #11 pulls up and hits a jumper from just inside the lane mid-way through the fourth quarter.
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Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
The Bulldogs Dylan Trivett #1 goes back up strong with a rebound over University High’s Pete Boynewicz #21 for two late in the fourth quarter.
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Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
The Bulldogs Geno Carrico #35 clashes with University High’s Andrew Cole #32 at the rim and hits the baby hooks shot, drawing the plus one mid-way through the first quarter.
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Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
Hampton’s Cadon Buckles #11 soars to the rim for a runner in the lane early in the second quarter.
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Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
Even with three Buc defenders surrounding him, Hampton’s Hayden Campbell #34 still hits this turnaround jumper early in the first quarter.
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Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
The Bulldogs Cadon Buckles #11, a Conference co-player of the year, pops a pull-up jumper over University High’s Mason Croley #3 early in the second quarter.
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Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
Hampton’s Hayden Campbell #34 hits a jumper from just outside the lane over a Buc defender mid-way through the second quarter.
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Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
With this free throw, at 5:30 left in the third quarter, Dylan Trivett #1 caps the Bulldog comeback from a ten-point deficit at the start of the second half.
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Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
The Bulldogs Cadon Buckles #11 is fouled as he takes a rebound back up to the hoop mid-way through the third quarter.
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Hampton’s Hayden Campbell #34 powers back up with this jumper, off a rebound, with the Buc’s Mason Croley #3 right on his shoulder mid-way through the fourth quarter.
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Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
The Bulldogs came up just a little short against University High in the District 1A tournament Tuesday night at West Ridge High School. Hampton will still host a Region 1A game Saturday night at 7:00 PM.
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Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
The Rangers Landon Ramsey #42 rises above North Greene’s Sam English #1 and hits the runner early in the third quarter.
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Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
The Rangers Johnny Douglas #25 hits nothing but the bottom of the net over North Greene’s Luca May #11 early in the third quarter.
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Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
Unaka’s Marcus Shomaker #45 goes to the rim over Huskies Lance Carrico #32 late in the third quarter.
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Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
The Rangers Joe-Z Blamo 35 stops and pops a jumper in the lane over North Greene’s Luca May #11 with just 1.2 seconds left in the third quarter.
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Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
The Rangers Joe-Z Blamo #35 races ahead of North Greene’s Jason Britton #24 down the lane after a steal in the back-court for a layup early in the fourth quarter.
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Star Photo/Larry N. Souders
The Rangers Landon Ramsey #42 initiates the contact with North Greene’s Lance Carrico #32 and draws the foul early in the fourth quarter.
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This three-pointer by the Rangers Mason Wilson #12 caps a quick opening five-point run by Unaka to start the third quarter. North Greene called a time-out to try and regroup after the shot.
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The Rangers opened the third quarter with a five-point run that resulted in a quick North Greene timeout. Unaka head coach Aaron Dugger encourages his players to keep up the pressure on the Huskies.
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The Rangers Marcus Shoemaker #45 crashes the boards and comes down with a rebound between North Greene’s Lance Carrico #32 and Bennett McLain #12 early in the third quarter.
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After sinking a pair of free throws on the previous play to give the Rangers the lead, Unaka’s Landon Ramsey #42 cements that lead with this bomb from well behind the arc and the Rangers never trailed in the game again.
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Unaka's Landon Ramsey #42 shoots over a Huskies defender.
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Late in the third period, Rangers Joe-Z Blamo #35 unleashed an air assault on the Huskies. He created steals and rebounds, hit all three layups and then added two free throws after being fouled on two of the three plays.
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The Rangers Landon Ramsey #42 hits a step-back fall-away jumper mid-way through the fourth quarter.
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With a minute and a half left in the game, Rangers Marcus Shoemaker #45 goes back up strong with a rebound sinking this jumper from under his own basket and expanding Unaka’s lead to an even dozen.
STAR CORRESPONDENT
BLOUNTVILLE – In the District 1A championship game played at Evelyn Rafalowski Athletic Center on the campus of Westridge High School, University High lived up to their nickname and the Buccaneers ‘hijacked’ the championship that seemed to be destined for Hampton.
The Bucs came away with a 66-58 win on Tuesday night to take the District 1A boys championship.
“I thought UH shot the lights out,” Bulldogs head coach Ned Smith said. “We didn’t play well and they outplayed us. We have to have a short memory and get back to work. We’ll practice Friday and regroup and get ready to play a game on Saturday. Defensively, we had just three steals and ten deflections.”
UH (18-12) led from the start and took a 16-11 first-period lead with Andrew Cole and Pete Boynewicz each hitting a trey. Hampton (23-7) rallied in the second period but the Bucs held on for a 28-24 halftime advantage.
In the third period, the Bucs went on a 14-2 run led by tournament MVP, A.J. Murphy and forward Alex Cole, who hit a pair of treys in the run. The Bulldogs answered with a short run of their own, to go into the final stanza trailing 47-39.
In the fourth period, Hampton junior post Hayden Campbell opened with a deuce in the paint but Boynewicz dropped in a three. Junior forward Dylan Trivett had a putback bucket but Drew Finney’s three-point play staked UH to a 55-45 advantage.
Another Campbell bucket in the paint closed Hampton to 57-51 with 4:39 remaining in regulation but A.J. Murphy had a dribble drive bucket that was answered by Trivett to make it a 59-53 game with 2:10 left. The Bucs scored the next four points on a bucket from Finney and a pair of free throws from Andrew Cole as UH took a 63-53 lead with under a minute left in the contest.
Consolation game
Unaka 68
North Greene 56
The Rangers (7-23) used a dominating game on the glass to defeat North Greene for third place in the district. Unaka pulled down 38 rebounds, including 19 on the offensive glass, to outhustle the Huskies.
The Rangers looked like they were going through the motions in the first half as North Greene built a 20-17 first-period lead that was extended to 31-24 by halftime. In the first half, senior guard Joe-Z Blamo had zero points and guard Mason Wilson was zero-for-seven from the floor, including 0-for-6 from long distance.
As a team, the Rangers shot 9-for-28 from the floor (32.1 percent) in the first half.
“We challenged them at halftime,” Rangers head coach Aaron Dugger said. “I felt like we missed a lot of shots – makeable shots – and we gave up a few on the defensive side that allowed them to push their lead. We had some discussion about that and they responded.”
Unaka outscored the Huskies 24-10 in the third period while totally dominating the boards and Blamo scored 13 second-half points and helped spark the Rangers offensively.
“Coach came in at halftime and made the adjustment and told us to slow down,” Blamo said. “That was mainly it. I knew that I had to play like myself. They were killing us on the boards and we knew we had to start rebounding better.”
The Rangers took a 47-41 lead into the fourth quarter and midway through the period, Unaka led 51-43 and went on an eight-point run getting three consecutive buckets from Blamo and senior forward Landon Ramsey added one more to give Unaka a 59-43 lead.
Ramsey scored a game-high 25 points with 12 rebounds, while Blamo and junior post Marcus Shomaker, each had 13. For North Greene, Jason Britton had 24 points and Bennett McLain added eight.
Consolation game
Unaka 68-56
North Greene (56)
English 5, May 5, McLain 8, J. Britton 24, T. Britton 6, Humburger 4, Carrico 6.
Unaka (68)
Wilson 6, Douglas 6, Blamo 13, Ramsey 25, Shomaker 13, Powell 3.
North Greene 20 11 10 15 – 56
Unaka 17 6 24 21 – 68
3 point goals : NG 6 (J. Britton 3, English 1, May 1, T. Britton 1), U 7 (Wilson 2, Douglas 2,
Ramsey 2, Lewis 1).
Championship game
University High 66-58
University High (66)
Murphy 18, Boynewicz 12, Finney 11, Carter 4, Al. Cole 8, An. Cole 13
Hampton (58)
Trivett 8, Anspaugh 7, Buckles 24, Campbell 10, Carrico 7, Point 2.
University High 16 12 19 19 – 66
Hampton 11 13 15 19 – 58
3 point goals : UH 6 (Al. Cole 2, Boynewicz 2, An. Cole 1, Murphy 1), H 2 (Buckles 1,
Anspaugh 1)
All Conference team
Hampton
Hayden Campbell, Michael Anspaugh, Dylan Trivett, Geno Carrico
Unaka
Landon Ramsey, Joe-Z Blamo, Mason Wilson
Cloudland
Ryan Sexton
University High
A.J. Murphy, Drew Finney, Pete Boynewicz
Co-Players of the Year
Jason Britton, Cadon Buckles