After struggling during the district tournament after finishing as a two-seed during regular season and finishing as the number four-seed in the tournament, not many people had given the Elizabethton Cyclones much of a chance against the one-seed Cumberland Gap Panthers in the opening round of the regions.

However, the Cyclones put all the naysayers to bed with a convincing 52-34 win over the Panthers on the road to earn a semifinal contest against host Grainger, a 63-55 winner over Unicoi Co., on Tuesday night at Grainger High School.

Game time will be 6 p.m.

The game was tight through the first 16 minutes as the Cyclones slipped out to a 22-15 halftime lead.

If there was a difference in the game, it came in the third quarter when the Cyclone defense locked down tighter than a set of vise grips while the offense outscored the Panthers 14-5 in the third to build the lead to 36-20 heading into the final quarter.

The fourth was pretty much even as the Cyclones held the two-point upper hand to seal the win with a 16-14 stanza.

Bo Pless scored 16 points to push his career total to 1,029 points to lead the Cyclones on the night. The Cyclones received a pleasant surprise offensively from Jalen Smith who tallied 14 points.

Michael Robinson got back on track as well from an offensive standpoint burying 13 for the game. Freshman point guard Eric Wilson continued to impress with an eight-point evening.

Hunter Bayless scored nine to lead the Panthers while teammates Adam Jenkins and Trent Graves added eight points apiece. Bryce Sutton had six points.

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REGIONAL 1-AA BOYS’ QUARTERFINALS

Elizabethton, 52-34

Elizabethton (52)

Michael Robinson 13, Teve Mushayamunda 1, Jalen Smith 14, Eric Wilson 8, Bo Pless 16.

Cumberland Gap (34)

Adam Jenkins 8, Bubba Lake 1, Trent Graves 8, Bryce Sutton 6, Hunter Bayless 9, Preston England 2.

Elizabethton………9   13   14   16 – 52

Cumberland Gap…8     7     5   14 – 34

3-PT Goals: Elizabethton 3 (Michael Robinson, Bo Pless, Eric Wilson). Cumberland Gap 3 (Adam Jenkins 2, Trent Graves).