Sevier County - King of Smokies Classic Champion

Sevier County gets big game from underclassman trio to win King of Smokies Classic

BY BRIAN HAMILTON PIGEON FORGE – Sevier County held off Jasper (13-3), one of the top teams in Alabama, 63-50 to win the King of the Smokies Christmas Classic on Friday afternoon. The Smoky Bears (12-5) were able to weather the hot shooting of Caden Steiner, who hit five three-pointers and scored all 17 of the Vikings’ first half points, thanks to the play of Reed Ownby, Jayden Barton and Parker Newman. The ‘Big 3′, as Sevier County head coach Ken Wright referred to the trio, scored every point for the Smoky Bears until a pair of Mason Ward free …

Gatlinburg-Pittman vs Trion (GA)

Gatlinburg-Pittman smothers previously unbeaten Trion (GA) 86-56

BY BRIAN HAMILTON GATLINBURG – Trion (GA) came into the semifinals of the Smoky Mountain Winter Classic with a perfect 12-0 record, but left with its first loss of the season, as Gatlinburg-Pittman bludgeoned the Bulldogs 86-56. The game was never really close past midway through the second quarter, as stalwarts Carlos Orr and Ty Glasper imposed their will on the game early and often. Glasper got to the rim almost any time he wanted and Orr was a rebounding machine, finishing with a game-high 13 boards. “When we went and evaluated them, I felt good, but them I turned …

Sevier County vs Rogers

Sevier County uses strong second half to defeat Rogers (AL) in King of Smokies Classic

BY BRIAN HAMILTON PIGEON FORGE – Sevier County got off to a slow start on Thursday morning, but was able to pull away comfortably in the second half, thanks to a stifling full-court press. The Smoky Bears outscored Rogers 40-21 in the second half to win 67-37 in the first round of the King of the Smokies Classic in Pigeon Forge. “We just played with no energy to start,” Sevier County coach Ken Wright said after the game. “You give them off four days and that’s just typical over the Christmas holidays. They stay up late when they have four …

Morristown West vs Jasper

Morristown West falls to Jasper (AL) in King of Smokies Classic

BY BRIAN HAMILTON PIGEON FORGE – Morristown West ran into a buzz saw on Wednesday afternoon in the first round of the King of Smokies Classic, as Jasper traveled up from Alabama and executed something similar to ‘death by full-court press’, as the Trojans were unable to get into any kind of flow in the first half, as Jasper went on to win 71-39. Jasper continuously forced mistakes and turnovers early on, resulting in Morristown East only six points on two first half field goals. The Vikings also began the game with precise offensive execution early in the first quarter. …

Tyler Lee

Smoky Mountain Sports Boy’s Preseason Top-10

Preseason Boys Rankings Preseason Boys Rankings Fulton (18) Bearden (1) Alcoa (1) William Blount Farragut Sevier County Gatlinburg-Pittman Austin-East Morristown West Morristown East

Ty Glasper

Highlanders defeat West Greene 86-66 to earn berth in region semifinals

BY BRIAN HAMILTON GATLINBURG – The Highlanders withstood a scoring barrage by West Greene’s Leyton Frye, who finished with 33, to outlast and outscore the Buffaloes 86-66 and earn a berth in the regional semifinals next Tuesday. “We played them last year and he did the same thing last year,” Gatlinburg-Pittman head coach Rashid Moore said of Frye. “He had probably 25 or 30 last year against us. We watched their district consolation game quite a bit and I don’t know the point total, but he might have had 40. He scores at a really high rate, so the game …

Harrison Rollins

Lions fall to top-ranked Goodpasture 51-36 in state quarterfinals

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 …

TKA vs Boyd Buchanan

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 …

The King's Academy defeated Grace Baptist Academy 78-36 on Monday night to secure the school's first ever birth in the region semifinals. Photo by Brian Hamilton

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 …