Hampton holds off Blue Devils rally

Published 4:24 am Thursday, December 12, 2019

By Allen LaMountain

BY ALLEN LAMOUNTAIN
STAR CORRESPONDENT
ERWIN – With 2.7 seconds left in regulation and down by three, Unicoi County put the ball in the hands of a shooter that had already dropped in six trey’s but Brock Thompson could not come through with a seventh against Hampton on Tuesday night on his last-second shot.
With that defensive stop, the Hampton Bulldogs (4-5 overall) earned a 56-53 victory over the Blue Devils in a back and forth game that had a lot of energy and intensity.
“I think we are getting more rhythm and a better rotation,” Bulldogs head coach Ned Smith said. “We missed a lot of layups in the first half. We got good looks but they have a big kid there in the post and he made us alter a lot of our shots.”
Unicoi led 12-10 after the first period but the ‘Dogs rallied to a 24-23 halftime advantage with senior Jordan Bentley scoring six of his team-high 17 points coming in the first half.
“I think this was Jordan’s best game of the season,” Smith said. “He can carry an offense inside or outside. Our guards hit some big free throws down the stretch. It’s big when you can come here and get a win.”
Bentley tallied nine third-quarter points – matching Thompson point for point – as Hampton clung to a 42-37 advantage going into the fourth period. Thompson knocked down three triples in the stanza to keep the Devils within striking range.
Bentley opened the fourth quarter with a deuce from the foul line but Unicoi answered with a trey from Brett Lingerfelt. Senior guard Garrett Vines and Unicoi’s Phoenix Holt each had a two-point bucket to make it a 46-42 Bulldogs lead at the 5:18 mark of regulation.
At the 2:10 mark, Thompson canned his fifth three-ball to knot the score at 48-48 and Thompson followed a Hampton miss with his final trey of the game to give the Devils a 51-48 lead, but it wouldn’t hold.
Vines hit a pair of free throws and Izaak Hill hit a running jumper in the lane and Vines once again hit both ends of his one-and-one free throw opportunity as Hampton took a 54-51 lead with 33.1 seconds left on the clock.
Freshman post player Lucas Slagle made a three-point play for Unicoi to cut the Hampton advantage to 54-53 but Conor Jones calmly dropped in both of his free throw shots and the Devils were down to a desperation shot attempt that hit the front rim and bounced over the backboard with two-tenths of a second left.
Thompson led all scorers with 24 points with Slagle contributing eight while Vines had 12 for Hampton.
 
GIRLS
Unicoi County.. 55
Hampton……….29
The young Lady Bulldogs struggles continued with a 10-for-29 shooting night – including 1-for-9 in the first period – as Hampton fell to 0-7.
The veteran Lady Devils ran off and hid with a 15-2 first-quarter lead that ballooned to 32-14 at the break.
The Lady ‘Dogs had trouble in the third period, scoring just four points as Unicoi saw their lead soar to 45-18 going into the final stanza.
Sara Orr and Alyssa Lambert each found the range from beyond the arc in the fourth quarter but it was too little too late in this contest.
Tenley Holt and Ashton Vance each had a game-high 15 points for the Devils while Bridgette Heaton’s five points led the way for Hampton.
—
BOYS
Hampton 56-53
Hampton (56)
Hughes 4, Vines 12, Oaks 4, Bentley 17, Jones 4, Hill 6, Lyons 6, Wilson 3.
Unicoi Co. (53)
Thompson 24, Peterson 5, Lingerfelt 3, Slagle 8, O’Dell 6, Holt 5, Lynch 2.
Hampton 10 14 18 14 – 56
Unicoi Co 12 11 14 16 – 53
3-point goals: H 7 (Bentley 2, Vines 2, Wilson 1, Hill 1, Hughes 1), UC 10 (Thompson 6, O’Dell 2, Peterson 1, Holt 1).
GIRLS
Unicoi Co. 55-29
Hampton (29)
McClain 4, Hicks 4, Milhorn 1, Brumitt 2, Orr 3, Heaton 5, Collins 4, Watson 3, Lambert 3.
Unicoi Co (55)
Edney 1, Holt 15, Street 3, Podvin 7, Vance 15, Metcalf 6, Shelton 2, Rush 3, Bailey 3.
Hampton   2  12   4  11 – 29
Unicoi Co 15  17  13 10 – 55
3-point goals: H 3 (Heaton 1, Lambert 1, Orr 1), UC 6 (Vance 2, Holt 1, Street 1, Potvin 1, Rush 1).

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