It wouldn’t matter if it were a competition between who could mow a straighter line, anytime the Elizabethton Cyclones and Science Hill Hilltoppers meet in any type of competition, it brings out the best in both teams.

Friday night was no exception as the Cyclones playing before a large crowd on their home court inside A.L. Treadway Gymnasium sandwiched in a strong opening and finishing quarter to withstand Science Hill 57-52.

Sprinting out of the gate

Elizabethton had the crowd rocking in the opening quarter as the Cyclones jumped out front 19-10 at the first stop of the contest.

Evan Perkins drained two treys and Nico Ashley added a trey and a field goal to build the lead early on.

Hunter Phillips had four points to keep the ‘Toppers from being down further.

Enduring the big chill

As hot as Elizabethton was in the first quarter, they were colder than an Eskimo’s nose in the second stanza as the ‘Toppers took advantage of the Cyclones scoring drought to turn the 9-point deficit into a 23-21 lead as the halftime horn sounded.

It wasn’t the Cyclones didn’t have opportunities to score—it was a combination of lost focus and the ‘Toppers defense getting in the shorts of the Cyclones to create frustration as Ashley collected the only basket of the period with under four minutes before the half.

Will Stevens and Drew Morrison led the ‘Toppers offensively as Stevens dropped 5 points in the quarter and Morrison collected 4 points.

Regaining momentum

in the third

Some of the energy from the Watts Studio Dancers must have been left on the court when the Cyclones returned as Elizabethton righted the ship after the disappointing finish to the first half.

Outscoring the ‘Toppers 15-11 in the third quarter, the Cyclones worked their way into contention to take the win by retaking the lead 36-34 when the horn sounded to end the quarter.

Post Carter Everett had a big hand in leading the rally by scoring 4 points including a strong basket inside the paint.

Ashley and Eric Wilson also knocked down 4 points in making the move toward the front.

Closing out down the stretch

The first six minutes were a back and forth brawl as both teams worked to get the upper hand. Things looked good for the ‘Toppers as with two minutes left to play; they maintained a 4-point advantage before the Cyclones showed why they are one of the top teams in the area.

Ashley started the comeback with a jumper from six feet out and then the Cyclones worked a beautiful backdoor lob to Ashley again.

From there, the Cyclones took care of business from the charity stripe as Wilson scored 8 points in the quarter including 5-of-6 from the foul line. Two of those were courtesy of a technical foul on ‘Topper head coach Ken Cutlip with 15 seconds left to play that helped to seal the win.

By the numbers

Ashley was the top gun of the night hitting for 16 points while Wilson wasn’t far behind with 14 points.

Perkins finished the contest with 9 points and freshman guard Bryson Rollins added 8 points. Parker Hughes (6) and Everett (4) helped to balance the scoring log for the Cyclones.

Stevens was the only ‘Topper in double figures with 13 points. Andrew Miller added 9 points in the loss.

Talking game with Nico

“It feels great,” Ashley said about the win. “The coaching staff did a good job of just getting us ready for this game and all the players played really well to just come out with a win.

“We expected them to make a run back. We just had to be ready for that and respond back.”

Another big win for Cyclone basketball

“It is Science Hill and they do a great job,” stated Cyclone head coach Lucas Honeycutt. “They are not at their normal standard they say. They usually are at the top of everything.

“When it comes to this season, I think they have a lot of fight in them and they are going to be back at the top of their conference again and doing big things. If they are not number one, I think they will be up there around two.

“It’s a huge win, another big program win for us. We found out a couple of years ago that we can compete with them and we aren’t scared to go against them. In big moments our guys just stepped up.”