Hampton dropped a heartbreaker on Thursday night.
The Bulldogs were unable to hold off a North Greene rally in a 49-47 decision in the Region 1-A Championship game at Daniel Boone.
Hampton will travel to Harriman on Monday for sectional action with the winner advancing to the state tournament in Murfreesboro. North Greene will host Oliver Springs in their sectional matchup.
In the early going, Hampton had the momentum.
Conor Burleson, Cadon Buckles, and Morgan Lyons hit early shots to give HHS a 6-0 lead, and two buckets from Hayden Campbell gave Hampton a 10-5 lead midway through the quarter.
The teams traded shots the rest of the quarter as a Logan Whitehead basket gave Hampton a 16-12 lead after a quarter of play.
The Bulldogs opened the second quarter with an 11-2 run with Buckles providing seven straight points. After an NG bucket from Jason Britton, Buckles added another basket. A quick 6-0 Hampton run – including two more buckets from Buckles – gave Hampton a 35-19 advantage at the half.
North Greene began battling back in the third quarter.
Michael Harrison answered a Jasper Brand bucket to start the quarter, but NG reeled off a 15-2 run to close the Hampton lead to 39-36 after three complete quarters.
After North Greene scored the first four points of the final quarter to take their first lead of the game with 6:22 remaining, the Bulldogs went on an 8-0 run with six straight from Buckles and two free throws from Burleson to give Hampton a 47-40 advantage with 3:14 left.
Britton, however, answered for the Huskies as he scored the next eight points – including the eventual game-winner with 13 seconds remaining.
The Bulldogs were unable to answer in the closing seconds.
Buckles had 21 points to lead Hampton, while Burleson had nine points. Campbell and Lyons had six and five points, respectively.
Buckles, Burleson, and Whitehead were named to the All-Tournament team.
Britton had 16 points to pace the Huskies. Olli Saarela had 15 points.
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