Rhea County's # 2 Braylon Geer brings ball downcourt in basketball action in tournament action this weekend in Johnson City.(Photo:http://trdunnphotography.com/)

Dupre Scores 27 To Lead Eagles to Win Over Science Hill in Tournament Play

12/9/23 Johnson City, TN

Rhea County salvaged a split in their tournament play with 62-53 win over Science Hill to go with a 76-61 loss to # 2 Ranked Fulton in first game of the tournament for the Eagles. Bryce Dupre hit for 27 points to lead the Eagles and Kyler Akin was also in double figures with 13 points Also scoring for Rhea: Braylon Geer 9, Caleb Carr 4, Hank Logsdon 3, KeyShawn Smith 2 and Ethan Davis 2.

Brady Lawson went off for 9 first quarter points to propel Science Hill to a 15-9 first quarter advantage after Eagles outscored Hilltoppers 6-0 to open the game. Dupre and Akin combined for 13 second quarter points for Rhea on their way to 17-10 advantage that gave the Eagles a 26-25 lead after two quarters.

Eagles increased the margin by two points as they led 36-32 lead after three quarters. Brady Lawson hit for 10 4th-quarter points for the Hilltoppers and Science Hill scored 21 4th quarter points, but Bryce Dupre matched Lawson and his teammates stepped up for 15 points of their own as Eagles won 61-53.

Brady Lawson led all scorers with 28 points. Also scoring for Hilltoppers were: Jaysahn Swartz 8, Oliver Peterson 7, Ty Young 4, Mason Wood 3, Ryan Lyons 2 and Landon Smeiser 1.

Coach Brien Crowder talked about the teams tournament, "Our kids grew up this weekend. Playing the number one team Fulton in the civic center and only losing by 15 was big. Beating Science Hill at home was one of my favorite games ever. We have enjoyed the start, but back to business on Monday against Soddy."

Against Fulton, the Eagles were outscored 24-9. Eagles did play much closer in the second quarter but still trailed 38-26. Falcons increased the lead in the third quarter to 57-36. Eagles used 10 point surge in the fourth by Bryce Dupre to outscore Fulton 25-19, but could not close the gap in the 76-51 loss. Kyler Akin and Bryce Dupre led the way for Eagles with 21 and 18 points respectively. Jai Kimber and Tyler Lee each tallied 16 points to lead Fulton. Fulton