NEW TAZEWELL - The Chuckey-Doak boys made the most of their offensive possessions and Cory Swinney dropped in 22 points as the No. 3 Black Knights knocked off sixth-seeded Claiborne 66-34 in the opening round of the District 2 AA Tournament at Claiborne High School Friday night.
Chuckey-Doak coach Sam Broyles said, "We couldn't shoot much better than that. We blew a lead the last time we played Claiborne here, but the boys stuck with it tonight. They weren't about to let ol Paul Estep shoot them back in it tonight."
The win advances Chuckey-Doak (17-10 overall) to the semifinals where they will take on Cumberland Gap Saturday at 5:30 p.m. It also means the Black Knights have earned a spot in the region tournament.
Broyles said, "We've got to come back at 5:30 tomorrow. We don't even get 24 hours of rest, what's up with that? We have a tough matchup with Cumberland Gap tomorrow but I feel like we're ready. We've got to rebound better to match up with their size and hopefully we'll continue to shoot well tomorrow, but the big thing is we're going to the regional."
Chuckey-Doak jumped out to big lead in the first quarter, capped by a three-pointer by Jared Meredith as the clock expired to give them an 18-6 advantage.
In the second quarter the Black Knights' relentless defense gave up only four feld goals while guards Swinney, Ben Gridley and Garret Johnson continually pestered the Bulldogs' backcourt.
"It was a tremendous effort defensively tonight from our guards all the way down to our posts. I was very pleased," Broyles said.
Birkir Vidisson took a dish from Johnson and ripped one through the net as the buzzer sounded to end the first half with the Black Knights up, 30-18
Vidisson and Swinney exchanged baskets to start the second half while Meredith added five third-quarter points to stretch Chuckey-Doak's lead to 53-28 going into the fourth quarter.
Vidission finished the game with 14 points off the bench for Chuckey-Doak.
"(Vidisson) can run the point, he can post up, he plays strong, he scores and he can guard their best player which is huge. He played really well tonight," Broyles said. "Jared Meredith and Birkir were big coming off the bench. They gave us a spark that helped us a lot."
In the fourth quarter the defensive effort was once again dominant as Chuckey-Doak allowed only six points, three of those coming on a very late attempt from behind the arc by John Bull. In addition, they were able to prevent their lead from slipping by going 6-7 at the charity stripe to close the game.
Triston Noe was the only Bulldog in double figure with 10 points.
