A big third quarter by Cloudland erased any hopes North Greene had of a second half comeback as the Highlanders ran away to a 65-44 victory Friday night.

"I'll tell you one thing about those kids, they're pretty disappointed right now, but you can't fault their effort," North Greene coach Brandon Broyles said. "We left everything out there on the floor and maybe if couple things go a different way it might be a different game."

Cloudland outscored the Huskies 18-8 coming out of intermission and started the period on a 16-4 run in the opening five minutes. Taylor Whitehead led the surge for the Highlanders with 7seven points in the quarter and finished second on the team with 15.

Dylan McClellan led all scorers with 17 points for Cloudland.

Broyles said, "They turned the heat up on us after the half and we didn't do a good job adjusting to it. That's partly my fault. But you know they're a state tournament type team and we battled them."

North Greene was without their leading scorer and floor leader Garrett Harbin who was down with an ankle injury. Without him the Huskies struggled to find an offensive rhythm and gave up too many turnovers to keep pace with Cloudland.

"We were without two starters, (Brett) Bolton and Garrett Harbin. Harbin is our leading scorer averaging 20 points a game and then he has10 rebounds a game too, and we have four-point game at halftime. That was a good effort," Broyles said. "That was a senior laden team and without Harbin we're just real young."

In the first half the huskies were able to keep the game close, leading 11-10 after one quarter.

The margin stayed close through the first half of the second quarter until a double foul with 3:59 seemed to take the wind out the Huskies sails. Adam Kirk was knocked out of the way by Mason Carnett going for a rebound. The official sent Kirk to free throw line and the Cloudland contingent erupted in disapproval.

The officials gathered and changed the call to Cloudland's elation. North Greene lost the ball on alternate possession and the Highlanders quickly jumped out to a nine-point lead.

North Greene would regroup and end the half scoring six unanswered points for a 23-27 deficit at the half.

In the fourth quarter the Huskies were able to cut the lead to 10 when Tanner Collins broke up an errant pass and laid it off the glass for two.

Tyler Bailey led the Huskies in scoring with 11 points; Kirk was the only other North Greene player in double figures with 10 points off the bench.

North Greene 11 12 8 13 44

Cloudland 10 17 18 20 65

North Greene

Tyler Bailey 11

Adam Kirk 10

Zane Britton 8

Tanner Collins 5

Troy Hall 4

Brett Pollock 4

Mark Trent 2

Cloudland

Dylan McClellan 17

Taylor Whitehead 15

Zac Potter 7

Jonah Woods 7

Mason Carnett 6

Matt Houston 6

Zac Benfield 4

Logan Russell 3