Elizabethton falls to Unicoi County in District 1-AAA consolation game
Published 11:44 am Wednesday, February 26, 2025
Ivan Sanders/Star Correspondent Elizabethton's Nathan Bailey soars for an early basket in Tuesday night's District 1-AAA consolation game against Unicoi County in Bristol.
Ivan Sanders/Star Correspondent Evan Chambers looks to take the ball to the rim for the Cyclones.
Ivan Sanders/Star Correspondent The Elizabethton Cyclones cheerleaders work hard to support both the boys' and girls' teams during the District 1-AAA basketball tournament at Tennessee High.
Ivan Sanders/Star Correspondent Justin Whitehead prepares to shoot a 3-pointer over the Unicoi County defense.
Ivan Sanders/Star Correspondent Cyclones guard Hudson Pate pushes the ball on a breakaway against a pair of Blue Devils defenders.
Ivan Sanders/Star Correspondent Justius Wallin ducks under and goes up for a layup against the Blue Devils defense.
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STAR CORRESPONDENT
BRISTOL – The District 1-AAA Boys Consolation game played on the floor inside Viking Hall at Tennessee High School may not have been for a first or second place plaque, but the game carried a huge amount of weight as far as who would be the team to draw the short straw of playing the Greeneville Greene Devils on their home court to open region play Saturday.
Unfortunately, for the Elizabethton Cyclones and Coach Lucas Honeycutt, the winner or loser in this case, would be the Cyclones who started strong but faltered in the second half in dropping a 67-58 contest to the Unicoi Co. Blue Devils.
The Cyclones built a 14-7 lead in the first quarter and held a three-point lead at the half, 25-22, behind the offensive play of junior post Nathan Bailey who tallied 11 in the first half including two from beyond the arc.
Hudson Pate and Andrew Barnett chipped in with four points apiece to help establish the lead.
With the shooting of sharpshooter Jackson Simmons of Unicoi Co. off in the half, Koda Cutlip picked up the slack scoring seven points to keep the game close. Simmons managed to score six on 3-of-10 shooting from the field.
Although the Cyclones managed to keep a tight grip on Simmons in the first half, that wouldn’t be the case in the second 16 minutes as Simmons caught fire to score 21 points including a perfect 7-of-7 from the charity stripe to propel the Blue Devils to the victory.
With Simmons hitting from different spots on the floor, Kaden Cutlip sealed the deal in the fourth as the Cyclones were forced to foul and Cutlip was the benefactor hitting 9-of-12 free throws to go along with a trey to finish with 14 points while Koda Cutlip finished with 13 for the Devils.
Bailey continued to have a hot hand for the Cyclones as he finished with a team-high 22 points. Pate was the only other Cyclone in double figures as the guard finished with 12 points.
Zack Wallin added nine points with seven of those coming in the second half. Justius Wallin added five points while Hudson Smith and Barnett contributed four points each.
Evan Chambers finished with two points to close out the scoring for the Cyclones.
