Unaka came up painstakingly short on Tuesday night.
The upset-minded Rangers were unable to answer a second-half North Greene run as the top-seeded Huskies captured a 44-39 victory in the District 1-A Championship game at West Greene.
Unaka will begin Region 1-A tournament play on Saturday by hosting Washburn.
After North Greene opened the scoring, Austin Lambert answered with a 3-pointer to give UHS a 3-2 lead in the open minutes. The Lambert basket sparked a 9-2 Unaka run that included shots from John Hardin, Mason Wilson, and Rylan Crabtree. That helped propel UHS to a 17-10 lead after a quarter of play.
Crabtree hit a 3-pointer early in the second quarter, but North Greene trimmed the lead to 20-18 with just over three minutes to play in the half. Jackson Deyton scored five straight to end the half to push the Ranger lead to 25-18 at the break.
Hardin added a bucket to open the third quarter to push the lead to nine points, but North Greene’s Lawson Davenport and Thomas Darnell started an 11-0 run as the Huskies took a 29-27 lead.
Hardin answered the run to tie the game, but North Greene took a 32-31 advantage into the fourth.
After North Greene pushed the lead to 35-31, Lambert drained a big 3-pointer and Crabtree hit a jumper to give Unaka a 36-35 lead with 4:18 to play.
North Greene, however, saw Davenport hit a jumper and Lance Carrico added a bucket to push the lead out as NG used a 9-9 run to secure the win.
Lambert had nine points to pace Unaka, while Crabtree scored eight points. Hardin added six points.
Aiden Walsh, Hardin, and Lambert were named to the All-Tournament team.
Darnell scored 16 points to pace North Greene. Carrico, who was named the tournament MVP, scored 12 points.
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