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By Allen Earl

Claiborne County Sports Zone

 

Claiborne High School hosted the Elevation/KOC Invitational Basketball Tournament last week. Teams participating included the host Bulldogs, Cumberland Gap, West Greene, Lakeway Christian, Campbell County, Scott County, Hancock County and Northview.

In Monday’s opener Lakeway Christian defeated Campbell County 58-50.

The second game saw the Cumberland Gap Panthers come from behind the second half to beat West Greene 62-59. Kolton Goins scored 19 and Brady Harris 18 to lead the Panthers.

On Tuesday, Northview downed Hancock County 85-55 and the Bulldogs dropped a 52-46 decision to Scott County. Drew Epperson led Claiborne with 16 points

The tournament continued on Friday with Campbell County topping West Greene 66-54 and Hancock County holding off Claiborne 56-40 in the consolation bracket. Leading Hancock in scoring was Isaiah Christian-Fodor with 19. Brady Swiney had 12, and Nason Delph finished with 10. Kole Holt led Claiborne with 11 and Colton Jones also hit double-figures with 10.

The winner’s bracket semifinals were next and Lakeway opened their game against Cumberland Gap with a 16-3 run. The Panthers cut the deficit to four but by halftime the Lions were up 41-24. Lakeway pulled away down the stretch for an 81-40 win. They were led by Jaleel Ali with 22 points and Owen McGoldrick with 20; Ethan Woolard and Ivan Moskalenko finished with 10 points each.. Kolton Goins led the Panthers with 15 while Gavin Barton added 12.

The other semifinal saw the Northview Academy Cougars top Scot County 66-45.

Saturday was championship day at the Coach Carl R. Green Gymnasium with four more games on the schedule. The first game up was a meeting between Claiborne and West Greene.
Claiborne jumped ahead on the scoreboard, but the Buffaloes rallied and took the lead. West Greene led at the half, 39-27. During the third, the Bulldogs made a run and got the deficit down to 10 points, but the Buffs responded with a run of their own. At the end of the third, the Buffs led 51-37. West Greene and Claiborne went to the bench in the fourth, but the Buffs sealed the victory at 59-46. Leading West Greene in scoring was Ayden Lamons with 15. Conner Campbell and Elijah Wilson scored 13 each and Sam Wisecarver also had double figures with 11. Claiborne was led in scoring by Colton Jones with 16.

The fifth-place game saw Campbell rally from six points down to beat Hancock County 63-60. The Cougars were led in scoring by Gavin Cox and Jake Hatmaker with 15 each. Luke Browning and Will Croley both scored 10.

The third-place game between Scott County and Cumberland Gap started with a 16-3 Highlander run.  Cumberland Gap rallied in the second period with great defense that led to layups. At the half, the Panthers were behind 31-24 but were playing better. The third period was the one where the Panthers made their move. They got as close as two-points but never took the lead. The third period ended 42-37 in favor of Scott. Midway through the final period, Scott went on a run that secured a 10-point advantage at 61-51 which ended in victory at 63-53. Wyatt Lloyd led the Highlanders with 21, Landon Goodman had 11 and Isaiah Washam had 10. Brady Harris led the Panthers with 25 points while Kolton Goins finished with 10.

The championship game was an exciting back-and-forth affair between Northview and Lakeway. The Northview Cougars pulled out a 69-66 win to become the 2024 Elevation/KOC Invitational champions. Northview was led in scoring by Blayne Jackson with 20 points and Ben Pickel with 19. Lakeway was led by Jaleel Ali with 26 and Ivan Moskalenko with 24.