Preview: Seymour Eagles vs. Cocke County Fighting Cocks
Seymour is 2-8 against Cocke County since December of 2018 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Tuesday. The Seymour Eagles will head out on the road to square off against the Cocke County Fighting Cocks at 6:00 p.m. Hopefully Seymour focused on turnovers this week since the team gave up 12 on Friday.
Last Friday, Seymour took a serious blow against Heritage, falling 75-44. While losing is never fun, Seymour can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Tennessee basketball rankings (they are ranked 371st, while Heritage is ranked 165th).
Despite the loss, Seymour got a solid performance out of Cameron Soulages, who scored 21 points. Soulages has been hot recently, having posted 15 or more points the last 11 times he's played. David Canterbury was another key contributor, scoring nine points along with five rebounds.
Seymour struggled to work together and finished the game with only three assists. They are winless (0-3) when they just don't pass the ball.
Meanwhile, Cocke County didn't have too much breathing room in their game against Jefferson County on Friday, but they still walked away with a 54-50 victory.
Cocke County can attribute much of their success to Oren Hazelwood, who scored 12 points along with five rebounds, and Ethan Fine, who scored 17 points along with six rebounds and two steals. Fine has been hot recently, having posted two or more steals the last three times he's played.
Seymour has traveled a rocky road recently having lost nine of their last ten contests, which put a noticeable dent in their 4-22 record this season. As for Cocke County, their victory bumped their record up to 11-17.
Tuesday's matchup is shaping up to be a masterclass in shooting: Seymour have been dynamite from deep this season, having made 38.5% of their threes per game. However, it's not like Cocke County struggles in that department as they've made 42.1% of their threes this season. Given these competing strengths, it'll be interesting to see how their clash plays out.
Seymour came up short against Cocke County when the teams last played back in January, falling 88-75. Can Seymour avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
