BY ADAM GREENE
SUN CORRESPONDENT
ROGERSVILLE -- A dominating streak came to end for the Greeneville High School boys basketball team Tuesday night. The Greene Devils found themselves in a heavyweight fight with Cherokee, losing 50-46 at Cherokee High School.
Greeneville (17-8) had won three consecutive games heading into Tuesday night, all convincingly. The Greene Devils' closes win was a 20-point victory over North Greene Saturday. For most of the game against the Chiefs (16-9), the win streak didn't appear to be in jeopardy.
Cherokee began its comeback as the fourth quarter opened. The Greene Devils led 33-30, but a five-point swing thanks to a hoop and harm against Tanner Trent and a jumper from Ty Ryans had the game tied 36-36 with less than six minutes to go.
"We gave up five straight points and had an and-one call and a technical called on top of that," Greeneville coach Brad Woolsey said. "It's hard to win when you do that in a close game."
The rebounding edge the Greene Devils enjoyed for most of the game disappeared too. Cherokee was able to force turnovers and before a minute was up, had its first lead of the game with a putback from Trent.
"Rebounding is our Achilles heel," Woolsey said. "I've got to do a better job of getting our guys to buy into it. If we don't get that part of it solved, then we're going to experience this kind of thing a lot more."
Greeneville wasn't going out silently. Down 43-39 with a little over two minutes to go, Zach Cobble buried a three to pull within one. Cobble finished the game with 15 points.
"Zach Cobble played with a whole lot of toughness tonight," Woolsey said. "He made some big shots, got some big rebounds. He had a really good night. "
With the lead already in hand and time winding down, all Cherokee had to do was make its free throws. Ty Ryans, Blake Wilt and Trent all went to the line for the Chiefs, going a combined 8-for-11 to seal the win.
Greeneville had its chances, but a key miss with just a minute to go halted their own comeback ambitions.
"We got a good look and you've got to take that," Woolsey said. "You hope you get a turnover and a foul and they hit their free throws. I wish I had done a better job with the play that we ran from a coaching standpoint, but we'll learn and get better."
Cory Waddell and Landon Duncan scored nine apiece for Greeneville. Trent had 19 for the Chiefs, with Ryans adding 10 and Forrest Looney scoring 11.
The Greene Devils will welcome District 2-AA rival West Greene to Hal Henard Gymnasium Friday night with tip off scheduled for 8 p.m.
