BY BRIAN HAMILTON SEYMOUR – The King’s Academy had a season for the ages this year, winning the district and region for the first time, but the Lions came up short of a berth in the Final Four, falling to top-ranked Goodpasture 51-36 on Saturday afternoon. “That’s the best team in the state,” King’s Academy head coach Sean Jones said after the game. “They’ve been number one all year and they’ve only lost twice all year. Ultimately, they did to us what they do to everybody. They’ll play you close for a quarter or two and then they get a …
Rollins, Simun lift Lions to first regional final berth in school history
BY BRIAN HAMILTON WHITE PINE – A little over two years ago, Harrison Rollins sat before his coach going into his freshman season and was asked, “What do you want to get out of your four years here at TKA?” The now-junior forward responded, “I want to lead this team to a state tournament.” Rollins is now one step closer to doing just that after scoring a career-high 27 points during The King’s Academy’s impressive 64-53 region semifinal win over Boyd Buchanan on Friday night. The Lions were able to avenge a December loss to the Buccaneers and clinched a …
Lions advance to first region semifinal in school history with route of Grace Baptist Academy
BY BRIAN HAMILTON SEYMOUR – The King’s Academy advanced to its first regional semifinal in school history on Monday night, as the Lions jumped out to a roaring start and never looked back, pouncing on Grace Baptist Academy 78-36 in the regional quarterfinal. “We’ve never been this far,” King’s Academy head coach Sean Jones said. “I think our guys enjoy each other so much that they just want to win together. They just want to keep playing. They don’t care about anything else right now. When we set goals at the beginning of the season, it wasn’t that we were …
Smoky Mountain Sports Boys’ Top 10 Basketball Rankings (2/5)
William Blount (24-4) Alcoa (18-7) Gatlinburg-Pittman (18-5) King’s Academy (21-6) Carter (18-8) Maryville (16-10) Cocke County (16-9) Lakeway Christian (15-8) Morristown-East (12-9) Northview Academy (15-11)
Heritage still searching for first district win after 64-37 setback to Bearden
BY BRIAN HAMILTON WALLAND – Bearden jumped out to an early lead and never looked back during Tuesday night’s contest with Heritage. The Mountaineers entered the contest at 0-4 in district play and still in search of its first district win in two years. Bearden thwarted Tuesday night’s attempt, however, as the Bulldogs jumped out to an early lead and never trailed in the contest, coming away with a 64-37 win. “I didn’t think we played well at all,” Heritage coach Brad Flatford said after the game. “We were prepared and knew what they were going to do, but we looked …
