BY BRIAN HAMILTON
SEYMOUR – If you haven’t noticed, this isn’t your usual Seymour boy’s basketball team. The Eagles have already clinched their first winning season since the 2012-13 campaign and went toe-to-toe with Fulton at Jody Wright Arena back on December 16, falling 50-48. While many probably thought that was a fluke, the biggest question coming into Tuesday night’s contest was if Seymour could push the perennial basketball power to the brink for a second time.
Nick Steen (10) goes up for a layup over Seymour defenders. Steen finished with a game-high 34 points. Photo by Brian Hamilton
The Eagles answered those questions emphatically, battling back from a 13-point fourth quarter deficit to send the game to overtime at 51-51 on a clutch three-pointer by senior Jack McAbee.
Fulton controlled the overtime period, however, as junior Nick Steen — the last remaining starter from the 2024 state championship team — scored eight of the Falcons’ nine overtime points to give Fulton a 60-56 win and keep the Falcons in first-place in the district.
“What an environment tonight,” Fulton head coach Jody Wright said after the game. “It’s good to win, and to win on the road in overtime, it’s good. They’ve been playing everybody tough. We won at the last second at Fulton. If you look at their record, they play hard and do all the things you’ve gotta do to win big ball games. You’ve gotta be tough on the road, and you’ve gotta be tough at home. I’ve said it before, it’s not always the best team that wins, sometimes it’s the toughest team that wins.”
After the game, Wright gave praise to second-year Seymour head coach Clint Sharp and the job he has done to turn around what has been a dormant program for the last 10-plus years.
“I coached against Clint here, when he played at Seymour and they remind me of some of the teams that he played for with Coach Randy Moore. They played hard, they competed, and they made everything tough.”
Fulton jumped out to an early 4-0 lead on a pair of baskets by Justin Burris and Nick Steen. Seymour got on the board with a floater by Reid Russell to make the score 4-2 with just over five minutes left in the first quarter.
The Falcons would stretch the lead to 9-2 after a Steen layup, followed by a three by Albie Harris. Clayton Keesling hit a layup and was fouled with 2:29 left in the quarter, but missed the free throw, leaving Seymour trailing 9-4.
A rebound and layup by Steen made the score 11-4 with 1:41 left. Abe Hess hit a layup to pull the Eagles to within 11-6, but Seymour failed to get back on defense, allowing Jymari Martin to score an easy layup to increase Fulton’s lead to 13-6. Fulton would lead 15-10 at the end of the first quarter.
Seymour’s Hayes Golden (11) goes up for a basket while Fulton’s Justin Burris (22) defends. Photo by Brian Hamilton
Beckett Stout grabbed a rebound and layup to give Fulton a 17-11 lead early in the second quarter, but Hess would answer with a fast break layup to make the score 17-13 with 6:17 left in the half.
A jumper by Steen would stretch the Fulton lead to 19-13 with 5:17 left, and neither team would find the net for the next four minutes until Hess grabbed an offensive board and drained a hook shot to cut Seymour’s deficit to 19-15 with 1:09 remaining in the half. Gio Tyler followed that with a wide open dunk to make the score 19-17, but the Falcons would score the last six points of the half to take a 25-17 lead into intermission.
Fulton opened the third quarter with a three-pointer by Harris to make the score 28-19. A Steen layup would give the Falcons their first double-digit lead of the game, at 32-21 with 4:40 left in the period.
A layup by Hess trimmed the Seymour deficit to 32-24 with 2:31 remaining, but Fulton would take a 35-24 advantage into the fourth quarter.
Keesling opened the fourth quarter with a three-point basket to pull Seymour to within 35-27, but Nick Steen powered his way to the basket and drew a foul, converting an old-fashioned three-point play to stretch the Fulton lead back to double digits, at 38-27.
Hess hit a layup and was fouled, but missed the free throw for a three-point opportunity, leaving the score at 38-29, in favor of Fulton.
Two free throws by Steen put Fulton ahead 44-31 with 3:48 remaining, as it looked like the Falcons would begin to put the game on ice. Seymour then embarked on an 8-0, capped by a pair of free throws by Hayes Golden, making the score 44-39 with 2:47 left in the game.
Seymour went back down eight, but a layup by Russell would cut the deficit to 49-43 with 1:25 left. Rejuan Womble split a pair of free throws on the other end, followed by Jack McAbee converting a pair of foul shots to make the score 50-45 with one minute remaining.
McAbee scored a basket with 25 seconds left to pull the Eagles to within 50-47. Each team split a pair of free throws on their ensuing possessions and Fulton was left to inbound with 19 seconds left and would surely be sent to the foul line.
Seymour elected to pressure Fulton before fouling, however, and forced a turnover. Jack McAbee then drained a three to tie the game at 51-51 with four seconds remaining, as the gym erupted with jubilation. Stout missed a shot at the buzzer, sending the game to overtime with the score knotted at 51-51.
Fulton head coach Jody Wright looks on as Seymour mounted a 13-point fourth quarter comeback. Photo by Brian Hamilton
“They don’t quit. Our guys are always going to play really hard, but I think it was just the urgency that kicked in,” Sharp said of the fourth quarter comeback. “I think we played a little too conservative and passive early on, as far as the shot taking, but a shot or two went in, finally, and then we were on an emotional high and shots started falling.”
Steen opened the overtime scoring with a layup to make the score 53-51. After a free throw by Justin Burris, Noah Bohanon would hit a layup to cut the Seymour deficit to 54-53 with 2:30 left in overtime. Steen then began to take over the extra session, as the junior converted a three-point play, followed by a layup to make the score 59-53 with 1:15 to go.
David Canterbury made a layup and was fouled with 46 seconds remaining. The senior would knock down the free throw to keep it a one possession game, at 59-56.
Seymour had the ball with 10 seconds remaining and a chance to send the game to double overtime, but Hayes Golden missed on a long three-pointer from the right wing. Steen grabbed the rebound and was sent to the line with four seconds left to ice the game. Steen converted 1-of-2 free throws to give Fulton a district-clinching 60-56 win.
“The fourth quarter was a disaster, in every sense of the word,” Wright said of the fourth quarter collapse. “We gave up more points in the fourth quarter than we gave up the first three quarters combined. I think they had 24 going into the fourth quarter and I think they scored 27 in the fourth. We had about seven or eight turnovers and were just sloppy with the basketball. Credit to Seymour. They never quit. They played hard and made a tough shot there (to force overtime), but I think that goes back to the culture of your program. In basketball, you have to have that ‘next play’ mentality, so we talked about ‘let’s go back and defend’ and let’s take care of the basketball and get some good shots.”
Seymour head coach Clint Sharp said he felt like his team’s momentum would carry over into the extra session, but Nick Steen’s timely baskets and ability to control the momentum kept the Eagles at bay in the overtime.
“I thought in overtime that we’d just hit a huge shot and we made that comeback. I thought momentum was ours,” Sharp said. “Fulton is really blessed that they have a guy that they said, ‘just go get the ball and get downhill,’ and that’s what they did with Nick (Steen) and we just couldn’t control or handle him. He’s a great player and that makes Jody’s job really easy, having him. We kind of have to do it as a team and they’ve got a guy.”
Nick Steen led all scorers with 34 points, while the next highest scorer for Fulton was Albie Harris with six points on a pair of three-point baskets.
“You’ve gotta have guys like that, and Nick’s our guy,” Wright said of Steen’s clutch performance in overtime. “A couple of years ago, when we were up here, we had four or five Nick Steens, with Taj (Kimber), Naj (Kimber), Tyler Lee, and Dexter Lewis. We had a lot of guys, but Nick is a big, strong, physical guy and he has a good skill set. He works hard and I love everything about him.”
Seymour was very balanced across the board scoring-wise. Abe Hess was the only Eagles’ player in double-figures with 11, while Jack McAbee had seven of his nine points in the fourth quarter, including the three that sent the game into overtime. Hayes Golden also finished with nine points, while Reid Russell and David Canterbury had eight apiece.
Fulton (15-7, 8-0 Class 3A District 3) will host Sevier County (11-6) on Tuesday, January 27 in a non-district tilt. Seymour (13-6, 2-2 District 3) will host district foe Northview Academy (7-12, 1-4) on Thursday night.