The beginning of a busy week of hoops coverage took me up into the mountains of East Tennessee to catch a glimpse of the unbeaten Highlanders of Gatlinburg-Pittman as they did battle with a worthy district foe in Knoxville Carter.
This was a good test for the Highlanders as they continue to mesh their new additions in with their established crew and for Carter which was reeling for its loss to Fulton and a narrow loss to Gibbs last Friday.
Lester Wilson (Knoxville Carter) decided to take matters into his own hands as the talented junior wing notched 28 points in limited playing time and lifted the Hornets to a 66-58 win at G-P.
Wilson was dynamite from the floor shooting 12 of 19 including 4 threes but was limited with foul trouble which kept him next to Coach Buell for majority of the second and third quarters.
Carter bounced out to a 22-12 first quarter lead behind Wilson and rising sophomore Braylen "Vitamin B" Bennett (Knoxville Carter).
Pittman wasted no time in showing their grit running away with the second quarter after a 23-7 advantage behind some sterling play from Marquis Wall (Gatlinburg-Pittman) and Jose Agosto (Gatlinburg-Pittman).
Carter regained the advantage with a big dose of Wilson to start the third but he picked up his fourth foul after scoring 8 straight points to put the Hornets in the lead again.
Bennett finished with 16 for the Hornets and sophomore guard Anthony Lewis (Knoxville Carter) added 9, including a big three late in the fourth to thwart a Highlander comeback.
Agosto finished with 20 points and 12 boards while fellow junior Morrease Barber (Gatlinburg-Pittman) added 11.
On Thursday I will head down to Sweetwater to watch me some Cory Billingsley (Sweetwater), then it is off to Middle Tennessee.
Friday games still up in the air but Saturday I will come to Mt. Juliet for their Holiday Classic, then Sunday to Riverdale for the 2009 Venture Express Great 8 Holiday Tournament.
I will post some information about these tourneys and anyone who wishes to have their event posted please send me the information at andre@tnprephoops.com and I will make sure to get it up so the people can see the info.
