Gatlinburg Pittman Historic Season Ends After 61-45 Loss To Westview

The Gatlinburg Pittman Highlanders historic season, and bid for a TSSAA State Championship came to an end on Wednesday afternoon, after falling to the Westview Chargers in their "Elite Eight" matchup 61-45.

"We fought, we could have probably executed the game plan a little better, but I'm extremely proud of how they continued to fight.", spoke GP coach Rashid Moore.

The Highlanders came into Wednesday's contest riding a 13-game winning streak, which included wins in the district, region and sectional tournaments, that sent them to their first TSSAA State Tournament since 1973.

In a game that was up-tempo from the opening tip, the Highlanders would commit 6 turnovers in the first quarter, but would out rebound the Chargers 12-5 including 4 from senior Craig Huskey, who would also lead them in scoring early on with 7 in the first quarter of play. The Highlanders would trail 16-12 after the first.

Gatlinburg Pittman senior leader Jayden Barton didn't enter the scoresheet unti 6:52 remained in the first half, after his made three pointer. The Barton three cut the Chargers lead to 20-17 at the time.

The Chargers pushed their lead back to 12 before Barton hit another three almost 5 minutes later in the half. Westview would take control however during the second quarter after a pair of Graham Simpson three's with roughly two minutes remaining in the half. Westview would go in at the half up 34-23.

The Highlanders would turn the intensity on coming out of the locker room following the halftime break, senior Quinn Coykendall would bring GP out swining with a trio of three's to give him 14 at the end of the quarter. Barton would add a three of his own early on and had the Highlanders on the comeback trail. The Highlanders would get another three, this time from junior Roger Matute with 32 seconds remaining in the third and the Highlanders were within 5 at the end of the quarter at 45-40

A pair of Barton free throws in the opening minute of the final quarter, had Gatlinburg Pittman within three of taking the lead. However the Highlanders would go cold from the field and miss their next seven shots and had untimely turnovers that enabled Westview to race out to a 51-42 lead with just over three minutes remaining.

Westview was then content to run clock after a missed shot from GP. The Chargers grabbed another offensive rebound off of a missed three and drained another 30 seconds from the clock, before calling a timeout with 2:03 remaining in the game.

A pair of dunks from Arden Smith of the Chargers took the lead to 13, before Coykendall drained his fifth three point basket of the game to bring the Highlanders back within 10 with just over a minute remaining in the game. Smith would slam down two more dunks, that left the Westview fans in a craze as they celebrated the Chargers win.

“I told them in the locker room that we didn’t play well enough to win. When you have that many turnovers (15) and give up that many offensive rebounds (nine), there’s a good chance that against a good team you’re not going to come out on top.", said Highlanders Coach Moore following his teams loss.

The Highlanders were led in scoring by Coykendall with 17, Barton (11), & Huskey (7). Gatlinburg Pittman ends their season with a 24-7 record that includes District, Region and Sectional championships.