The Happy Valley boys basketball team came up short in their quest to extend their season.
The Warriors dropped a 49-41 decision to Unicoi County on the opening night of the District 1-AA Tournament on Warrior Hill.
For most of Wednesday night, points were hard to come by.
Noah Stevens and Dakota Cochran helped HV take an early 4-3 lead, but the Warriors were held scoreless over the next five minutes as Unicoi took a 9-4 advantage. Bryce Carter and Stevens combined for a quick 5-0 run in the final minute to tie the game at 9-9 after eight minutes of play.
The second quarter saw HV take an 11-9 lead off a Carter shot, but a 6-2 Unicoi run to end the half gave UC a 17-15 lead at the half.
Happy Valley opened the second half with a Cochran jumper to tie the game at 17-17, Unicoi answered points from Cochran to hold a 23-20 advantage midway through the quarter. HV, however, reeled off four straight points with buckets from Will Tittle and Stevens to tie the game at 24-24 going to the final quarter.
In the final stanza, Brock Thompson took over for the Blue Devils. Stevens hit a 3-pointer to give the Warriors a 27-26 advantage with 6:41 left to play. Unicoi’s Thompson would be denied as he scored eight points in a row and scored 15 points in the final quarter to power UC to the win.
Carter finished with 16 points to power HV, while Stevens had 10 points.
Thompson had 20 points to lead all scorers.
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