The Sevier County Smoky Bears lost against the Morristown-Hamblen East Hurricanes back in December of 2023, and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Tuesday. Sevier County fell just short of Morristown-Hamblen East by a score of 55-53. The loss unfortunately continues a disappointing trend for Sevier County in their matchups with Morristown-Hamblen East: they've now lost six in a row.
Morristown-Hamblen East's success was the result of a balanced attack that saw several players step up, but Kyle Cloninger led the charge by scoring 25 points along with two steals. Cloninger is on a roll when it comes to points, as he's now scored 15 or more in the last 27 games he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Keegan Mink, who scored ten points along with five rebounds and three steals.
Sevier County's defeat ended a three-game streak of wins at home and dropped them to 16-8. As for Morristown-Hamblen East, they are on a roll lately: they've won nine of their last ten games, which provided a nice bump to their 22-6 record this season.
Sevier County will look to defend their home court on Thursday against Karns at 7:30 p.m. Karns will have to bring their A-game into this one, as they are staring down a pretty big deficit in the MaxPreps Tennessee Rankings (they are ranked 199th, while Sevier County is ranked 41st). Morristown-Hamblen East's road trip will continue as they head out to face Greeneville at 8:00 p.m. on February 9th. Morristown-Hamblen East knows how to get points on the board -- the team has finished with flashy point totals in its past eight contests -- so hopefully Greeneville likes a good challenge.
