High School Boys Basketball

Team photos available for purchase from Mast Visions

Coach: Mr. Herman Rice, email bucscoach55@gmail.com

Assistant Coach:  Bud Hazelwood 

Assistant Coach:  Marty Story, email storyml@etsu.edu

2021-2022 University High Basketball Schedule

High School Basketball District Tournament Bracket

DATE                                       OPPONENT                                                                  TIME

Nov. 19                                    Cedar View                                                                 5:00, 6:30, 8:00

Nov. 24-26                             Sullivan East Thanksgiving Tournament       TBA           

Dec. 2                                      West Greene                                                               5:00, 6:30, 8:00

Dec. 3                                      Davy Crockett                                                            5:00, 6:30, 8:00

Dec. 7                                      KACHEA                                                                         5:00, 6:30, 8:00

Dec. 9                                      @ North Greene                                                         5:00, 6:30, 8:00

Dec. 11                                    Jellico                                                                            3:00, 4:30, 6:00

Dec. 14                                    Chuckey Doak                                                            5:00, 6:30, 8:00

Dec. 17                                    Happy Valley                                                              5:00, 6:30, 8:00

Dec. 27-30                              Charleston Tournament (varsity only)           TBA

Jan. 4                                       @ Davy Crockett, JV and V only                                               

Jan. 7                                       Unaka                                                                            5:00, 6:30, 8:00

Jan. 11                                     Hampton                                                                      5:00, 6:30, 8:00

Jan. 14                                     @ Cloudland                                                               5:00, 6:30, 8:00

Jan. 17                                     @ Happy Valley                                                         5:00, 6:30, 8:00

Jan. 22                                     @ Jellico                                                                       3:00, 4:30, 6:00

Jan. 25                                     KACHEA                                                                         5:00, 6:30, 8:00

Jan. 28                                     North Greene                                                               5:00, 6:30, 8:00

Feb. 1                                        Unaka, @Brooks Gym                                              5:00, 6:30, 8:00

Feb. 4                                        @Hampton                                                                    5:00, 6:30, 8:00

Feb. 8                                        Cloudland                                                                       5:00, 6:30, 8:00

Feb.10                                       @ West Greene, Varsity only                                                         

Feb. 11                                      @ Chuckey Doak                                                         5:00, 6:30, 8:00

Feb. 12                                      @ Oak Hill                                                                      TBA

District Tourney - TBA

-- GAME TIMES ARE JV BOYS, VARSITY GIRLS, VARSITY BOYS UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED

 Hampton pulls away for District 1-A title
Matt Laws
12 hrs ago
 
ELIZABETHTON — When it counted, Hampton got going.

The Bulldogs held off North Greene to claim the District 1-1A championship game with a 51-42 victory over the Huskies at Happy Valley on Tuesday night.

Hampton will host Cosby in the quarterfinals of the Region 1-A tournament, scheduled to begin on Saturday, while the Huskies will host Washburn.

In the consolation game, University High took a 60-34 victory over Unaka.

 Hampton’s Cadon Buckles had 14 points to lead Hampton and was named the tournament MVP. Morgan Lyons and Conor Burleson joined Buckles in double-digits with 10 points apiece.

 
Logan Whitehead added eight points, and joined Buckles, Lyons and Burleson on the All-Tournament team.

The title fight lived up the hype.

After North Greene took a 12-10 lead into the second quarter, Hampton used a 9-2 run to end the second to take a 27-21 halftime advantage. The Bulldogs pushed the advantage to double-digits — leading by as many as 12 before the Huskies trimmed the lead to 10 after three complete quarter.

North Greene closed the gap to five points with two minutes left in the game, but Burleson scored four straight points and Buckles added a jumper to snap the North Greene run.

Jason Britton led North Greene with 14 points, while Jasper Brand had 12 points.

University High 60, Unaka 34
University High outscored Unaka 41-12 in the second half to pull away for the win in the consolation game.

Both squads will travel to open Region 1-A play on Saturday.

John Carter had a game high 21 points to lead the Bucs, while AJ Murphy added 13 points.

Unaka’s Ryan Sexton had 18 points, including four 3-pointers, to lead the Rangers.

After a defensive first quarter that saw the teams tied in an 8-8 stalemate after eight minutes of play, UH used a quick run to pull ahead and take a 19-15 halftime lead.

After Unaka’s Landon Ramsey hit a 3-pointer to pull the Rangers within one-point with just under five minutes to play in the third, Carter added a pair of free throws and Joseph Armstrong hit a jumper to kickstart an 11-2 run to end the quarter to take a 32-22 lead.

Momentum stayed with the Bucs in the final quarter as they outscored Unaka 28-12 in the final eight minutes to secure the win.

 
Drew Finney and Armstrong finished with eight and six points, respectively, for the Bucs.

Bulldogs, Huskies set stage for District 1-A final
Matt Laws
Feb 19, 2022
 
 
(article photo on press) Racing alongside University High’s Drew Finney (22), Morgan Lyons pushes the ball up the floor for Hampton on Saturday night.

ELIZABETHTON—Hampton held on for a physical win in Saturday’s District 1-A boys basketball semifinals.

The Bulldogs held off a determined University High squad for a 82-70 victory at Happy Valley to advance to Tuesday’s District 1-A championship game.

Hampton will square off against North Greene — which dispatched Unaka 71-50 in the other semifinal — after University High and Unaka face off in the consolation contest.

Cadon Buckles had a night as the junior led all scorers with 26 points. The Bulldogs produced a total of four scorers in double digits with Morgan Lyons adding 13 points while Logan Whitehead and Conor Burleson each scored 10.

   

Hampton led 22-17 after a quarter of play, but was unable to get any separation in the second quarter as University High answered each Hampton shot and the Bulldogs took a 44-41 advantage to the break.

Burleson kick-started the second half with back-to-back buckets, and Hampton opened the quarter on an 8-0 run. UH responded with 9-1 run. However, Michael Harrison hit a 3-pointer and the Bulldogs took a 58-50 lead into the final quarter.

After the Bucs closed the gap to five points with John Carter free throws, the Bulldogs reeled off eight straight to push the lead back to double digits — then held off UH for the win.

Carter led three Bucs in double- digits with 17 points. Pete Boynewicz had 12 points and Andrew Cole 11 points.

North Greene 71, Unaka 50
The Rangers were unable to overcome a strong second half by the top-seeded Huskies.

Landon Ramsey led Unaka with 16 points, while Joseph Slagle added 12 points.

North Greene jumped out to a 16-5 lead to open the game before Unaka trimmed the lead to 16-8 after a quarter of play.

The Rangers closed the gap to five points midway through the second, but NG was able to answer to push the lead back to 12 points.

Unaka used a pair of free throws from Ramsey and a free throw from Ryan Sexton to trim the lead to nine at the half.

North Greene, though, pushed the lead back out to double figures in the third quarter and used an 11-3 run to open the fourth to take full control.

Jasper Brand had a game-high 21 points to pace the winners. Jason Britton and Cody Freshour joined Brand in double digits with 17 and 13 points, respectively.

 Dead-eye North Greene tops University High to earn top seed
Jeff Birchfield
Feb 15, 2022
 
North Greene made the most of its opportunities at the free-throw line to down a fired-up University High team on Tuesday night.

The Huskies hit 21 of 22 free throws to take a 75-66 victory at Brooks Gym. With the win, the Huskies (27-4, 7-1) earned a share of the Watauga Valley Conference championship with Hampton as the teams split head-to-head matchups.

North Greene will be the No. 1 seed for the upcoming District 1-A tournament after winning a coin flip earlier Tuesday. Jason Britton paced the Huskies with 29 points. Cody Freshour scored 15, while Mauro Garcia and Olli Saarela each had 10. All of Saarela’s points came at the foul line.

“We will take it. Anytime you can come out and shoot that high percentage, that’s good,” North Greene coach Sam Tarlton said. “I’d like to have seen us come out with more energy playing for the No. 1 seed. They scored the first nine on us.

 
“But it was a game of runs and we were able to make enough plays to win and lock up the No. 1 seed. We put ourselves in the best position, but now everyone is 0-0 as we try to go get the district championship.”

The Bucs (13-11, 4-4), already hit hard with injuries this season, suffered another blow as A.J. Murphy missed the game with sickness. John Carter stepped up with 32 points and Joseph Armstrong scored 10.

University High scored the first nine points of the game, but the Huskies stormed back to take a 23-20 lead at the end of a high-energy first quarter. North Greene extended the lead to 40-29 midway through the second quarter before University High rallied to cut the deficit to 42-36 at the half.

Twelve unanswered points by the Huskies in the third quarter put the momentum solidly in their favor. They took a 58-44 lead into the final eight minutes.

The Bucs did their best to rally in the end, but were hurt by costly turnovers.

“We cut it to six and throw it away two of the next three possessions,” University High coach Herman Rice said. “They’re too good of a team to do that. We played hard, just had a lot of mental breakdowns. We were without three of our top players, but I’m not making excuses because the kids played hard tonight.”

GIRLS

North Greene 58, University High 24
The Lady Huskies (19-12) outscored the Lady Bucs 23-4 in the third quarter to complete their undefeated run through the Watauga Valley Conference.

 
Shelby Davenport paced North Greene with a dozen points and Hailee English scored nine.

The much-improved Lady Bucs (1-21, 0-8) trailed 17-13 in the second quarter before North Greene went on a 9-0 run.

Catie Leonard led University High with 11 points.

 Murphy’s 30 boosts UH to WVC win over Cloudland
Tanner Cook
February 8, 2022
 
It was senior night on Tuesday at Brooks Gym, but sophomore A.J. Murphy stole the show in University High’s 61-40 Watauga Valley Conference win over Cloudland.

Murphy netted a game-high 30 points to lead all scorers as 22 came in the second half. He finished 10 of 17 from the field and sank eight of his nine foul shots.

“A.J. is capable of that every night,” UH coach Herman Rice said. “We’ve been encouraging him all season to score more because he’s a phenomenal scorer.”

Even though the Buccaneers (13-9, 4-3) got off to a sluggish start on the festive evening, the third quarter proved to be the main difference-maker. Rice’s crew went 8 of 16 from the field and opened a big lead.

 Murphy’s 11 huge markers powered a big third quarter for the Bucs as they doubled their score from halftime and led by 18 going into the final quarter.

“Anytime we have homecoming or senior night, we always come out flat,” Rice said. “We did it again tonight, but we’ve got three kids with the flu. That’s not an excuse though because Cloudland came out and executed their game plan very well.”

Cloudland’s Caleb Sluder finished the game with 12 points while Dylan Shell netted 10.

Neither team could do much of anything going in the first quarter as the Bucs led by only three points. Then, Murphy got things going in the second.

Murphy netted the final six points for University in the second quarter and was one of just two Bucs to score in the period.

Cloudland (5-18, 0-7) struggled mightily in the first half, shooting just 4 of 21 in the first 16 minutes. UH wasn’t much better, going 8 of 21 in the first half.

“We’re just trying to get everybody feeling better,” Rice said. “We definitely had a better second half. I thought we stood around too much and didn’t run our offense in the beginning. Once we started to go that third quarter, we really got rolling

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 Hampton takes WVC twin-bill from UH
Tanner Cook
Feb 4, 2022
 

HAMPTON — Despite a bad start to Friday night’s Watauga Valley Conference game with University High, the Hampton boys basketball team kept its league record unblemished.

The Bulldogs ripped off their fifth consecutive victory with a 65-56 victory inside VanHuss White Gymnasium. Hampton has also won 9 of 10 with its only loss in the stretch coming to Providence Academy back on Jan. 15.

Logan Whitehead finished with a career-high 21 points to lead Hampton and all scorers. Cadon Buckles also contributed 11.

Hampton boss Ned Smith believes that second-half defense was what really turned the game around.

 
“UH came to play and they hit us in the mouth,” Smith said. “Our guys started playing with a lot of fire and getting after it on defense. They matched UH’s intensity, especially in the second half.

“In the second half, the defense turned into offense and that’s when we started playing well.”

The ’Dogs (18-5, 5-0) trailed 20-11 after the first quarter, but proceeded to go on an 18-6 run that put them ahead 28-26 with 90 seconds remaining in the second stanza.

After a 30-30 halftime tie, Hampton outscored the Buccaneers 18-10 in the third and all but sealed the deal.

John Carter finished with 17 points to lead UH (10-9, 3-3) while A.J. Murphy netted 14 and Andrew Cole tallied 13.

The Bucs could not find the bottom of the net much in the second and third quarters, going just 8 of 29 from the field.

Hampton’s next two games against Providence on Saturday and North Greene on Tuesday are both big games for different reasons. The game against the Huskies could help Hampton all but wrap up the WVC.

“Providence is a really good team and they’re athletic,” Smith said. “We have to take care of the basketball and not turn it over.”

Hampton 57, University High 20
The Lady Bucs got off to a good start — leading 4-1 in the early going — but Hampton caught fire in a hurry thanks to a multitude of turnovers.

The Lady Bulldogs (14-10, 2-3) picked up a Watauga Valley win thanks to 17 points from Linsey Jenkins on four 3-pointers.

Hampton had a diverse scoring sheet as 11 players scored. Breanna Davis also finished with double figures, netting 12.

Catie Leonard led UH (1-18, 0-6) with eight points.

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University High Boys Basketball Defeats Unaka!  The following article was printed in the Johnson City Press: 

Roundup: University High downs Unaka in Watauga Valley rivalry game

Jeff Birchfield
February 1, 2022

John Carter pumped in 29 points as University High defeated Unaka 64-53 in boys basketball action Tuesday night at Brooks Gym.

The Bucs had a stout defensive effort, especially in the first quarter, when they held the Rangers to three points. Brayden Ryder added eight points on the offensive end for University High, which generated balance with Jacob Pealer and Andrew Cole each scoring seven.

Joseph Slagle got the ball rolling for Unaka with 11 points and Joe-Z Blamo was right behind with 10.
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Bucs Basketball Victory for UH Boys and Girls for Homecoming Night!  The following article was printed in the Johnson City Press:

 
HS roundup: Unicoi County hands Volunteer first league loss
Jeff Birchfield
January 25, 2022
 
...

University High 71, KACHEA 38

The Bucs rolled to a 28-9 lead at the end of one quarter and coasted to a 71-38 win over the Wildcats.

Joseph Armstrong muscled his way to a 22-point effort. John Carter tallied 11 points as Jacob Pealer finished with 10 and Brady Weems netted nine.

KACHEA’s leaders were Caleb Graham with 13 points and Spencer Nelson with 11.

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GIRLS

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University High 40, Tri-Cities Christian 22

The Lady Bucs had a big second half and broke through with their first win of the season against the Lady Eagles.

Catie Leonard led the way for the Lady Bucs with 13 points and Lemy Ortiz added eight.

Michalea Dixon scored 12 of Tri-Cities’ 22 points.

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