Cyclones nip 'Dogs in Watauga tuneup
Warriors, Longhorns Prevail
  
By Jeff Birchfield
STAR STAFF

   Point guard Lester Bailey scored the last six points for Elizabethton leading them to a 40-38 win over Hampton in the nightcap of the Watauga Conference jamboree Thursday night at Hampton High School.
   "I think this deal was to get used to this atmosphere," said EHS head coach Tony Hardin. "It was good to experience it. Hampton is going to be a very good club. I think this league is going to be very competitive."
   Eric Stout led the Cyclones in scoring with 10 points, while Vince Redd added nine for the winners.
   "He's only practiced one day," Hardin said about Redd. "His knees had been sore. He got some good minutes for us tonight."
   Matthew Campbell had 11 points to pace the Bulldogs with three treys. Ryan Deskins and Grant Honeycutt each had nine points for Hampton.
   "I thought we did pretty well," said Hampton coach Jerry White. "This was a good jitter-getter out. Both teams played hard, diving on the floor. Zack Ensor got hurt and Grant Honeycutt played the point guard. He did an outstanding job handling their pressure and we hit some threes to keep us in range."
   On the night, the 'Dogs hit seven shots behind the arc, Campbell had three, Honeycutt two, Deskins and Jeff Clark had one apiece. EHS countered with B.J. Miller hitting two, Jordan Lambert and Bailey with one each.
   About the injury Ensor suffered was a twisted ankle, but he's not expected to miss any action.
  
   Happy Valley 33, Unicoi County 27
   Chris Campbell sank 3 treys en' route to a 13-point performance and Tim Whaley had nine to push the Warriors to the win over the Blue Devils in jamboree action.
   Unicoi held a 20-10 lead after a Nick Garland basket with 7:10 left in the contest before Campbell's three-pointer spurred a 13-2 run for Happy Valley.
   Cody Cannon also came up with a big basket and free throw in the game turning run. "We fought hard and made a good comeback," said HV head coach Charlie Bayless. "We used a lot of different subs. It will be a different game when we play each other.
   "The Campbell boy shot good and we rebounded good. We ran the ball well down floor. The fast break was how we got ahead."
   It spoiled the debut of new Blue Devil head coach David Whaley. His team was led by Dustin Silvers with 7 points and Chris Brown with six points.
  
   Johnson County 44, Volunteer 43
   Another coaching debut was more successful as Austin Atwood's Longhorns edged the Falcons by one after Matt Eggers' jumper in the paint proved to be the winning shot. Volunteer's Terrill Carpenter heaved a shot at the buzzer, but it fell short.
   Matt Cornett had 18 points for Johnson County, while Tommy Short provided 13 and Judd Shoun threw in 7 in a game marred by 48 free throw attempts.
   "It was too much fouling," said Atwood. "It was a sloppy game. There was a lot of points scored. Defensively, we caused a few turnovers out of our pressure.
   "We didn't control the tempo the way we would have liked. We talked about playing hard and we did do that. When you're successful like (ex-coach) J.R. Campbell was, it's hard for the kids to come in and listen to a new leader."
   On the opposing side, Josh Carr had 13 for the Falcons. Ryan Marshall aided the Volunteer cause with eight points.
  
   Sullivan North 38, Sullivan Central 30
   Josh Arnold took honors as the evening's high-scorer putting 19 points on the board in the Raiders victory over the Cougars. Matt Edens scored 7 for North.
   Josh Crain poured in eight points for Central in the loss.