Cocke County is 1-9 against Morristown-Hamblen East since January of 2017 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Tuesday. The Cocke County Fighting Cocks will be playing at home against the Morristown-Hamblen East Hurricanes at 7:30 p.m. The timing isn't great for Cocke County: they have been struggling with four straight losses at home dating back to last season, while Morristown-Hamblen East has snatched up three consecutive wins on the road.
Last Saturday, Cocke County opened the new year with a less-than-successful 48-41 defeat to Christian Academy of Knoxville. Cocke County has not had much luck with Christian Academy of Knoxville recently, as the team's come up short the last two times they've met.
Despite their defeat, Cocke County saw several players rise to the challenge and make noteworthy plays. Ethan Fine, who scored nine points along with seven rebounds and two steals, was perhaps the best of all. Another player making a difference was Jerome Cofield, who scored 11 points along with two steals.
Meanwhile, Morristown-Hamblen East scored the most points they've had all season to find success on Monday. They came out on top against Hardin Valley Academy by a score of 82-74. Having run the score up that high, both teams might be doing some extra defensive drills very soon.
It was another big night for Kyle Cloninger, who scored 30 points along with six assists and three steals. He is on a roll when it comes to points, as he's now scored 15 or more in the last 17 games he's played. The team also got some help courtesy of Mason Smith, who went 6 for 8 from beyond the arc en route to 18 points and 4 assists.
Cocke County has not been sharp recently, as they've lost five of their last six games, which put a noticeable dent in their 7-13 record this season. As for Morristown-Hamblen East, they have been performing well recently as they've won ten of their last 12 matches, which provided a nice bump to their 16-5 record this season.
Some high-performance offense is likely on the agenda as the pair are some of the highest scoring teams in the league. Cocke County hasn't had any problem running up the score this season, having only averaged 53.8 points per game. However, it's not like Morristown-Hamblen East struggles in that department as they've been averaging only 64.8 points per game. With both teams so easily able to put up points, the only question left is who can run the score up higher.
Cocke County lost to Morristown-Hamblen East at home by a decisive 76-60 margin in their previous matchup last Tuesday. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of Cloninger, who dropped a double-double on 22 points and 16 rebounds. Now that Cocke County knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
