UH Boys Basketball Victory Over KACHEA

UH Boys Basketball Victory Over KACHEA!  The following article was printed in the Johnson City Press:

UH keeps KACHEA an arm’s length away
Douglas Fritz
December 7, 2022
 
Happy at home in December, University High came out smoking hot and dropped 27 first-quarter points on KACHEA.

The second period wasn’t quite as friendly, and it turned out to be a four-quarter battle.

But the Buccaneers didn’t let the Wildcats stay happy, eventually working their way to a 63-46 win in boys’ high school basketball Tuesday night at Brooks Gym.


UH, which scored the last eight points of the game, improved to 3-3 on the young season.

   

“I think the kids got too comfortable and stopped playing,” UH head coach Herman Rice said of the drop off after the first quarter. “You have to give KACHEA credit. They battled and played hard.”

 
In the girls’ game, UH played Washburn and wound up on the short end of a 58-21 decision.

UH scored only 10 points in the second quarter, and took a non-too-comfortable 37-24 lead into the locker room. Rice said he was concerned about a letdown after recent tough losses and an important conference game coming up Thursday against North Greene.

“We talked to the kids about this being a possible trap game,” Rice said. “We started out ready to play, but we sure weren’t ready in the middle of the game. We’ve had breakdowns in the middle of the game where we’re just a totally different team. That’s something we’ve got to fix.”

UH outscored KACHEA 15-12 in the third period, but the Wildcats battled to within a single-digit deficit in the fourth quarter. When things got tight, however, the Bucs found their swagger again.

John Carter led UH with 17 points, with 15 coming in the first half. Hank Stott added 13 points. Jacob Pealer added nine points while freshman Brady Weems chipped in with eight, hitting a pair of third-quarter treys when KACHEA was trying to make a move.

The most positive takeaway?

“We ran the clock and had more points than they did at the end,” Rice said. “I didn’t see a whole lot more positive things out there.”

Preston Diamond led KACHEA with 17 points while Caleb Graham totaled 14.

GIRLS

WASHBURN 58, UH 21

The Lady Pirates jumped out to a 13-2 advantage after one quarter and University High was unable to mount an effective rally.

Braelyn Coffey led Washburn (5-2) with 20 points. Teammate Tori Coffman hit a trio of treys and finished with 13 points.

For University High (0-5), Catie Leonard scored a little over half of her team’s points with 11.