A late quarter push propelled Unicoi over Hampton 57-48 in the opening round of the 27th Annual Hardee’s Classic Tuesday inside David Crockett High School.

Today, Hampton will face Sullivan North at 4 p.m. while Unicoi will take on Boone at 8:30 p.m.

In the first quarter, Unicoi took advantage of turnovers by Hampton to push out to a 9-4 lead, before the ‘Dogs strung together a 6-3 drive to tie things up at 12-12.  Down the first-quarter stretch, Hampton and Unicoi swapped buckets with Chris Timmons hitting a buzzer beater to tie things up at 14-14 heading into the second period.

The second quarter saw Hampton’s Charlie Butler scored all of Hampton’s eight points. However, trailing 22-20, Unicoi’s Dylan Putman hit a three-pointer before his teammate Trevor Hensley knocked down two foul shots to give Unicoi a 25-22 lead at half time.

In the third, Hampton worked out to a 36-31 edge after the Bulldogs scored ten unanswered points with Timmons hitting a three and a bucket-and-one. The Blue Devils’ rallied back with Unicoi’s Chase McNabb hitting a three and Clay Simpson knocking down a buzzer-beating bucket to tie things up at 38 going into the fourth.

Unicoi rained in three treys to outscore Hampton 17-10 in the final quarter.

Hampton was led in scoring by Butler who had 13 points while Lyons followed up with 11 points.