Unaka came up short in the District 1-A Consolation game.
The Rangers dropped a hard-fought 60-34 decision to University High on Tuesday at Happy Valley.
Unaka will open the Region 1-A Tournament on Saturday evening at either Jellico or Hancock County.
Points were hard to come by in the opening quarter.
Gavin Seigfried hit a 3-pointer to get things underway. That would be the only points until UH hit a free throw with 3:02 left in the quarter and the Bucs tied it up at 3-3 with a layup.
Joe-Z Blamo broke the stalemate with 2:30 left in the quarter and Devin Ramsey added a free throw. After the Bucs ended the quarter with a John Carter lay-up, the teams went to the second quarter tied at 6-6.
University High opened the second quarter with back-to-back buckets from Joseph Armstrong, but Unaka answered as Joseph Slagle added a free throw, while Ryan Sexton hit a 3-pointer to even things up at 10-10 with 3:45 left in the half.
The teams traded points with Sexton adding another 3-pointer, but UH pushed the lead out to 19-13 in the final minute.
A late Sexton bucket cut the UNaka deficit to 19-15 at the half.
After the teams traded shots to open the third quarter, Unaka trimmed the gap to one point with a Landon Ramsey bucket.
University High, however, went on an 11-2 run to end the quarter and take a 32-22 advantage into the fourth.
Unaka kept battling in the fourth quarter, but another Buc run early in the quarter secured the win.
Sexton had 18 points to lead Unaka. Ramsey and Slagle had four and three points, respectively.
Carter led UH with 21 points.
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