Eagles gun down Pigeon Forge

19 treys pace long bomb assault

In a game that had nothing to do with tournament standings, but everything to do with post-season momentum and county pride, Seymour (16-9) gunned down the District 2 champion Pigeon Forge Tigers (18-8) Tuesday by a 82-54 count. The Eagles started slow with just three buckets all treys in the first quarter, but hit 19 from behind the arc before the smoke cleared.
Ironically it was the Tigers who opened the game with a three-point jumper from Chris Ferguson. With Chris Norris commanding the offensive boards and Allen DeWyse answering the Seymour long shots that did fall in the first, Pigeon Forge led the entire first quarter and held a 14-9 advantage.
Seymour got on track in the second when Blake Carr hit his second three to open the quarter and begin an impressive 25-4 Seymour run. Josh Harmon followed with a steal and lay up before Carr hit another trey that put the Eagles in front 17-14. Chris Slay got two treys over Norris while Carr hit two more of his seven bombs. The Tigers managed to score on a set up inbounds play to DeWyse and a score by Norris. When Pigeon Forge called time with 1:41 left in the half, their five-point lead had evaporated into a 16-point deficit, 34-18.
Norris scored coming out of the timeout, but Thomas Floyd put in the last four points of the half to give Seymour a 38-20 lead.
Halftime did nothing to cool the SHS shooters, if anything it heated up other Eagles. After a Tiger score for two, SHS hit three consecutive treys, pushing the lead to 47-22. DeWyse was the leading answer for the Tigers. Hitting the short jay before in two threes of his own. The effort kept pace with SHS as the 25 point lead held firm, but Harmon and Drew Stokes had found the range and the Tigers had their paws full with four Eagles hitting from way out. Carr hit back-to-back bombs before Stokes canned his own just before the buzzer for a 63-32 count at the end of three. The Eagles tally was up to 16 treys and the final outcome wasn’t in doubt.
Both teams substituted freely in the fourth, giving younger players floor time and saving their main rotation in preparation for the post season. The teams started the fourth with eight straight foul shots, four by each team in the first 50 seconds. It was an SHS night as they took a 4-3 edge in that short exchange. Stokes hit all four of his tries while Austin Woodrick missed one.
Chris Fry joined in the Eagle shooting barrage with back-to-back treys surrounding a Tiger zero trip at the foul line. The 73-37 lead was the biggest Seymour advantage of the night. Pigeon Forge closed the gap slightly with what in all accounts was a rematch of the JV game from earlier in the night during the last four minutes of play.
DeWyse led the Tigers with a 17 point night including three of the four Pigeon Forge three’s. Norris got ten points while Woodrick and Ben Lethco got seven each.
“Tonight they played, the dee and hit the three. That’s how you get a win against a good team on the road, tonight we had a bit of a snow ball effect, the guys just fed off of each other,” said Eagle Coach Randy Moore. On the night SHS had just 7 baskets inside the arc but the 19 from behind it gave Seymour the edge to complete the sweep of the Tigers this season.
Carr finished with 27 on seven bombs. Slay had 18 with five long goals. Harmon had eight points while Floyd and Stokes hit for 7. Fry had six points on his two late treys.