{"id":3824,"date":"2025-01-13T23:57:23","date_gmt":"2025-01-14T04:57:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smokymtnsports.com\/mensbasketball\/2025\/01\/13\/eagleton-escapes-after-pigeon-forge-second-half-rally-falls-short\/"},"modified":"2025-01-13T23:57:23","modified_gmt":"2025-01-14T04:57:23","slug":"eagleton-escapes-after-pigeon-forge-second-half-rally-falls-short","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/smokymtnsports.com\/mensbasketball\/2025\/01\/13\/eagleton-escapes-after-pigeon-forge-second-half-rally-falls-short\/","title":{"rendered":"Eagleton escapes after Pigeon Forge second-half rally falls short"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY BRIAN HAMILTON<\/p>\n

MARYVILLE – Eagleton picked up a crucial district win on Monday night, as the Royals held off a Pigeon Forge comeback for a 70-63 win. Eagleton saw a 14-point lead midway through the third quarter dissipate to a 1-point lead early in the fourth quarter, but resiliency was what helped the Royals come away with the win.<\/p>\n

“We didn’t cover the middle, but Pigeon Forge did a lot of stuff to make that happen,” Eagleton College & Career Academy head coach Scott West said after the game. “They spaced it well and (Chris) Fudger’s a real nice player as a freshman. Obviously, (Bryson) Morrissette is a really nice player and (Samuel) Brackins is a warrior. We knew that they weren’t gonna die and they’ve got shooters. When you’ve got shooters, that’s a great equalizer in any game.”<\/p>\n

\"Chris

Pigeon Forge’s Chris Fudger (23) goes up for a layup over Eagleton defenders. The freshman finished with a game-high 25 points. Photo by Brian Hamilton<\/p><\/div>\n

Eagleton opened the game on a 6-0 run, but Pigeon Forge would quickly erase the deficit with threes by Samuel Brackins and Chris Fudger to tie the game at 6-6 with 3:27 left in the first quarter.<\/p>\n

Austin Gredig hit a pair of free-throws to break the tie and give Eagleton an 8-6 lead, which was followed by a steal and dunk by Noel Meza-Flores to make the score 10-6.<\/p>\n

A basket by Brackins and a layup by Ryan Conley would tie the game at 10-10 with 1:43 left in the quarter. A three-pointer by Gredig with just under one minute remaining would give Eagleton a 13-10 lead at the end of the first quarter.<\/p>\n

Gredig increased the lead to 18-11 with a three-pointer, followed by a pair of free throws by Meza-Flores, followed by a Gredig steal and layup to make the score 23-11. A layup by Geo Hypolite-Jean stretched the Eagleton lead to 25-11, as the Royals were threatening to blow the game open.<\/p>\n

A rebound and layup by Brackins would finally end the drought for Pigeon Forge and trim the lead to 25-13 with 4:25 left in the second quarter. Bryson Morrissette hit a layup and then split a pair of free throws to make the score 27-16. Fudger would grab the missed free throw and put it back, however, closing the Tigers’ deficit to 27-18.<\/p>\n

A three from the corner by Hunter Chamberlain would give Eagleton a 30-18 lead with 3:20 left until the half. A layup by Alex Walker would stretch the lead to 32-18 with 2:47 remaining, as Eagleton would take a 34-22 lead into the half.<\/p>\n

Pigeon Forge cut the lead to single digits, but Meza-Flores converted a traditional three-point play to stretch the lead back to 38-26 with 5:38\u00a0 left in the third quarter. Eagleton led Pigeon Forge by 14 midway through the third quarter, but Pigeon Forge would push back later in the quarter.<\/p>\n

A steal and dunk by Morrissette would trim the Eagleton lead to single digits, making the score 44-36 with 2:36 remaining in the quarter. A three-pointer by Fudger would then slice the Tigers’ deficit to 44-39, which capped off a 7-0 run with 1:43 left in the third.<\/p>\n

Walker hit a reverse layup to push the Eagleton lead to 50-43 with 20 seconds remaining, but after Fudger missed the back end of a one-and-one, the ball was tipped out to Brackins who nailed the three to pull Pigeon Forge to within 50-47 at the end of the third period.<\/p>\n

\"Eagleton

Eagleton Academy head coach Scott West gives his team instructions during a fourth quarter timeout. Photo by Brian Hamilton<\/p><\/div>\n

Brackins then scored a layup off a turnover to cut the deficit to 50-49, which was the closes the Tigers had been since 10-10. Every time Pigeon Forge would cut the deficit to one possession down the stretch, it seemed like Eagleton had an answer. The answer was primarily Hypolite-Jean, who six points in the fourth quarter as the Royals fought to stave off the pesky Tigers.<\/p>\n

A triple by Morrissette cut the Eagleton lead to 61-58 with 2:43 remaining, but a layup by Walker would stretch the lead back to 63-58. Fudger scored a basket and was fouled with a chance to cut the deficit to one with 32 seconds to go, but missed the and-one, leaving the Tigers down 65-63. Gredig would score on the other end to give the Royals a 67-63 lead with 23 seconds left.<\/p>\n

Eagleton won the game going away, however, as Pigeon Forge was unable to foul Gredig on the final Royals possession and the guard found Walker for an emphatic alley-oop at the buzzer, giving Eagleton a 70-63 district win.<\/p>\n

“Our advantage was the inside presence and late in the game I felt we kind of asserted that, but they didn’t quit,” said West. “Man, that was a good District 2 game. That’s just a preview of what this tournament is going to be like. There’s no easy outs coming out of District 2 in Class 2A.”<\/p>\n

Pigeon Forge’s Chris Fudger led all scorers with 25 points, while Austin Gredig led Eagleton with 20.<\/p>\n

Geo Hypolite-Jean finished with 16 points for Eagleton, while Alex Walker finished with 14 for the Royals.<\/p>\n

While Pigeon Forge was led by Fudger’s 25, Samuel Brackins finished with 20 for the Tigers and Bryson Morrissette added 12.<\/p>\n

Eagleton (13-3, 3-2 Region 1 District 2) will travel to Gatlinburg-Pittman (15-3, 2-1) on Tuesday, January 14 for another district battle, while Pigeon Forge (10-6, 0-3) will travel to Cosby (7-10) for a non-district contest on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

“It was a huge opportunity tonight to get a win and we had to fight to do it,” said West. “They outplayed us in the second half and it wasn’t even close. We just hung on enough and made enough plays. We’ve got GP tomorrow night and they’re going to be ready for us after what we had here. If we play like we did in the first quarter and late second (quarter), we’ll be okay, but if we play like we played defensively in the fourth quarter, Ty Glasper will be scoring from Tuesday until Sunday and he won’t stop. He can have 110 by halftime tomorrow night if we play like we played.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY BRIAN HAMILTON MARYVILLE – Eagleton picked up a crucial district win on Monday night, as the Royals held off a Pigeon Forge comeback for a 70-63 win. Eagleton saw a 14-point lead midway through the third quarter dissipate to a 1-point lead early in the fourth quarter, but resiliency was what helped the Royals come away with the win. “We didn’t cover the middle, but Pigeon Forge did a lot of stuff to make that happen,” Eagleton College & Career Academy head coach Scott West said after the game. “They spaced it well and (Chris) Fudger’s a real nice … <\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[577,697,8,41,5],"tags":[698,699,700,410],"class_list":["post-3824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball-mens","category-eagleton","category-featured-stories","category-pigeon-forge","category-top-story","tag-class-2a","tag-district-2","tag-eagleton-academy","tag-pigeon-forge"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nEagleton escapes after Pigeon Forge second-half rally falls short - Smoky Mountain Sports - Men's Basketball<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/smokymtnsports.com\/mensbasketball\/2025\/01\/13\/eagleton-escapes-after-pigeon-forge-second-half-rally-falls-short\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Eagleton escapes after Pigeon Forge second-half rally falls short\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BY BRIAN HAMILTON MARYVILLE – Eagleton picked up a crucial district win on Monday night, as the Royals held off a Pigeon Forge comeback for a 70-63 win. 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