The Cocke County Fighting Cocks pushed their score all the way to 60 on Tuesday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They lost to Morristown-Hamblen East on the road by a decisive 76-60 margin. While losing is never fun, Cocke County can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Tennessee basketball rankings (they are ranked 213th, while Morristown-Hamblen East is ranked 28th).
Cocke County's loss came despite a true team effort from the offense, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Ethan Fine, who scored 17 points. The match was Fine's fourth in a row with at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Oren Hazelwood, who scored eight points along with six assists and five rebounds.
Cocke County struggled to get the ball back on offense and finished the game with only four offensive rebounds. They were crushed by their opponents in that department as Morristown-Hamblen East pulled down 11 offensive rebounds.
Kyle Cloninger continued his habit of posting crazy stat lines for Morristown-Hamblen East, dropping a double-double on 22 points and 16 rebounds. That makes it 12 consecutive games in which Cloninger has scored at least 25% of Morristown-Hamblen East's points. Mason Smith was another key contributor, scoring 16 points.
This is the second loss in a row for Cocke County and nudges their season record down to 7-11. As for Morristown-Hamblen East, they are on a roll lately: they've won eight of their last ten matchups, which provided a nice bump to their 14-5 record this season.
Cocke County will look to defend their home court on Friday against Fulton at 6:00 p.m. One thing working in Fulton's favor is that they have posted big point totals in their last 14 matches. As for Morristown-Hamblen East, they will head out on the road to face off against Morristown-Hamblen West at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Morristown-Hamblen West is out to stop a three-game streak of losses at home.
