Unaka used a big third quarter to get a win on Tuesday night.
The No. 4 Rangers overcame a double-digit deficit in the first half to take a 68-56 victory over No. 3 North Greene in the District 1-A Consolation Game at West Ridge High School
Unaka will open the Region 1-A tournament on Saturday night as they will go to the loser of the District 2-A Championship game between Jellico and Cosby. North Greene will travel to the winner.
The first quarter set a back-and-forth tone.
After Johnny Douglas opened the scoring with a trey, North Greene answered on the other end. Marcus Shomaker regained the lead and swapped shots with North Greene’s Jason Britton as NG held a slim 14-12 lead.
The Huskies pushed the lead to six points before Landon Ramsey scored five straight points to answer the run. A late NG bucket gave the Huskies a 20-17 lead after a quarter of play.
North Greene opened the second quarter on a quick 7-1 run, and then slowly extended the lead to 10 points. Unaka trimmed the lead back to single digits before the half with a Ramsey jumper.
The Rangers trailed 33-23 at the half.
Unaka battled back in a big way in the third quarter.
Mason Wilson and Ramsey hit back-to-back shots that sparked a 13-2 run over nearly the first six minutes of the half. That run gave Unaka a 36-33 lead.
The teams traded shots before the Rangers slowly pushed the lead to 47-41 at the end of the quarter.
The teams traded shots to open the final eight minutes before NG went on a quick 5-0 run to pull within two points.
Unaka, however, answered with a 12-2 run that was sparked by five straight points from Joe-Z Blamo to take a 12-point lead just past the midpoint of the quarter.
From there, Unaka held off a late NG rally to secure the win.
Ramsey led Unaka with 25 points, while Shomaker and Blamo had 13 points a piece.
Wilson and Douglas had six points each.
Class A Mr. Basketball Finalist Jason Britton had 24 points to lead North Greene.
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