Bryce Dupre prepares to drive against Demarus Ballard in the region semifinal tournament game at Bradley on Tuesday night.(Photo:GaryBolden)

Rhea County loses 70-44 to End Very Successful Season

Cleveland, TN 2/27/24 -- Rhea County High School basketball team dropped their semifinal region tournament game to Bradley 70-44 on a night when Bradley shot the ball well and Eagles could not find the range enough to counter the Bears offense.

Kyler Akin gave the Eagles the early lead 2-0 with his drive. Jackson Ary gave the Bears the 4-2 lead shortly around the 6 minute mark. Akin tied the game 4-4. Dee Reid hit a floater with 3:51 to give Bradley the lead they would never give up.

The Eagles scored their first basket of the 2nd quarter on a free throw by Bryce Dupre with 6:52 left in the 2nd quarter. At 2:45, a Bryce Dupre 3-pointer cut the Bear lead to 24-11. At the end of 2 quarters, Bradley led 32-17. Kyler Akin had 8 first half points to lead the Eagles and Taylor and Ary each had 8 to lead the Bears. The Eagles had 10 turnovers in the first half. The Eagles shot 5-27 from the field . The Eagles had the edge over the Bears 21-20 on the boards. The Bears converted the 10 turnovers to 15 points. The Bears outshot the Eagles from 3-point range 4-2.

The Eagles cut the lead to 34-24 on Dupre's basket off a steal early in the 3rd. Braylon Geer kept the lead at 10 with a free-throw at 35-25 with 5:35 left in quarter. Jarrius Rogers hit a 3 with 5;02 left in third for a 38-25 lead. Bradley's Reid hit a spurt to take a big 18 point lead with 43-25 lead with 4 minutes left in quarter. With 2:31, Dupre picked up his 4th foul to hamper the offense after he went to the bench. Dupre had 7 points in the quarter to lead the Eagles. The Eagles only scored 4 more points the rest of quarter and trailed 52-29 at the end of three quarters.

Bryce Dupre led the Eagles with 8 4th quarter points, but Bradley kept the big lead until the end and won 70-44. Dupre and Akin led the Eagles with 19 and 15 points each and both made the All-Region Tournament. Also scoring for Eagles were: Sam Stumbo 4, KeyShawn Smith 4 and Braylon Geer 2. Jarrius Rogers led Bradley with 17 points and Ramireon Taylor(13), Tyrese Stoval(10) and Jackson Ary(12) each scored in double figures. Also scoring were: Dee Reid 7, Alex Walker 6, Demarus Ballard 3 and Andrew Walker 2.

The Eagles came up short of getting to state, but finished 28-8, the most wins in a long time and they treated Eagle fans to a great stretch of very exciting games against some great competition. Beginning in late December, they had some memorable games against Bearden, McMinn, Soddy, Walker, Cleveland and Walker Valley These were all games the Eagles could have won and could have lost. They won 5 of those games. They also had some great offensive outburst during the year with three 90 plus scoring games. Bryce Dupre had a great year shooting the ball and Kyler Akin improved throughout the year and provided a second scoring threat for the Eagles. Braylon Geer also provided a 3-point threat, while also combining with Akin to provide two very good ball handlers to run the offense, get good looks for Dupre and others as well as breaking presses.

KeShawn Smith and Caleb Carr each provided double figure rebound potential and an inside threat to help free the outside shooters. Cooper Brackett came off the bench to provide another ball handler as well as instant energy on offense and defense for the Eagles. Sam Stumbo and Hank Logsdon provided quality minutes off the bench for the Eagles. Gone are seniors Dupre, Akin, Logsdon, Stumbo, and Ethan Davis.

Eagles will be looking for some help for the core of Geer, Smith and Brackett. Sophomore Mason Ford will be back after being lost to injury earlier this year. Coach Crowder will have big holes to fill with the loss of over 45 points per game gone between Dupre and Akin.