Unaka came up short in a pair of heartbreakers on Friday night.
The Rangers came up short on a last-second shot as North Greene took a 56-55 win in overtime, while the Lady Rangers were unable to hold a late Lady Huskies run as NG took a 42-55 victory.
The boys’ game was a classic.
After North Greene opened the scoring, Jackson Deyton and Austin Lambert hit back-to-back shots to spark a 10-3 Unaka run. The Huskies answered with a quick 8-0 run to pull out to a 13-12 lead after a quarter of play.
The second quarter saw North Greene take a 23-16 lead midway through the quarter, but Aiden Walsh and TJ Good combined for a run to pull Unaka within one point. North Greene’s Lance Carrico hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Huskies a 31-26 lead at the half.
The back-and-forth battle continued in the second quarter as the teams traded shots as the teams went to the fourth quarter tied at 39-39.
After Thomas Darnell opened the fourth quarter with a jumper, John Hardin and Good answered for Unaka. That helped the Rangers take a 48-43 lead with just under three minutes to play. Lawson Davenport, however, went on a 7-2 run for NG to tie things up at 50-50 and force overtime.
Davenport gave NG the lead to open the extra period before Hardin and Good scored four straight points to give Unaka the lead. Davenport tied things up at 54-54 with 1:18 left in overtime before Hardin regained the lead for Unaka with 31 seconds remaining. North Greene, however, saw Davenport hit a shot with four seconds left to lift the Huskies to the win.
Good led Unaka with 15 points. Walsh added 13 points. Hardin and Lambert had nine and eight points, respectively.
Davenport had 22 points to lead NG, while Tyler Britton and Darnell had 10 points apiece.
The girls’ game was a game of runs.
North Greene led 13-9 after a quarter of play. Lauren Lund and Ari Sutherland hit 3-pointers for Unaka, but the Lady Huskies take a 22-15 lead at the half.
Katlyn Dugger opened the second half with a 3-pointer and Kalli Shepard added three 3-pointers in the quarter as Unaka went on an 11-3 run during the quarter to take a 26-25 lead into the fourth. Shepard and Dugger added shots as Unaka pushed the lead to 32-27 early in the final quarter.
North Greene, however, went on a 10-0 run over a two-minute stretch to take a 37-32 lead with 2:13 to play.
Shepard stopped the run with a 3-pointer to close the gap to two, but the Lady Huskies were able to secure the win in the closing moments.
Shepard led Unaka with 18 points, while Dugger had eight points. Hannah Miller had 15 points for the Lady Huskies.
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