©2010 NPT PHOTO BY RUSSELL LAWS

Newport Grammar's Dylan Dockery (middle) splits two defenders for two
of his game-high 20 points in the Warriors victory over Robertsville in the
TMSAA East Sectional quarterfinals Thursday night in Sevierville.

SEVIERVILLE-Here we are, in the middle of February, when most elementary and middle school basketball programs have wrapped up their seasons and are thinking of spring and summer sports.

Not the Newport Grammar Warriors. After capturing the Area 3 (TMSAA) Tournament championship on Thursday, February 4, the Warriors have fought on, and now find themselves in the semifinals of the TMSAA East Sectional semifinals. The Sectionals, by the way, are as far as you can go in middle school basketball, sort of the state championship tournament of middle school basketball.

The Warriors have been tried and tested, playing in some tight games, and having to dig deep to make a few comebacks along the way. But, they've passed every test so far, including their Sectional quarterfinal against Robertsville this past Thursday night at Sevierville Middle School.

Robertsville gave the Warriors all they could handle. But, the Warriors were up to the task and pulled out a 50-45 victory to send them into the semifinals.

The travel to and from Sevierville the past three weeks and playing the best teams East Tennessee has to offer have been a grind, to say the least. But the Warriors have risen to the occasion, and continue to find ways to win.

The problem for Warriors' opponents is how to defense them. With the power of their inside game and deadly shooting from outside, it's pick your poison. Robertsville found that out this past Thursday night in the quarterfinals.

The Warriors jumped out to a quick 16-7 first-quarter lead. Warriors' big man Dylan Dockery took control of the paint, and got four baskets inside while Hunter Suggs took care of business from the outside, draining two three-pointers.

The Warriors made it an 11-point lead, 28-17, at the half with Dockery getting two more baskets inside while Cole Ssms contributed a basket and two free throws, and Jack Kyker and Wesley Lewis added a basket each for the Warriors.

While Robertsville finally started focusing on Dockery, other Warriors stepped up as Bryson Valentine nailed two three-pointers and a deuce, Sam Gunn pumped in two two-pointers and D.J. Haney added a bucket to give the Warriors a 13-point advantage heading into the final six minutes.

Robertsville made a valiant run at the Warriors down the stretch. Robertsville outscored the Warriors 16-8 in the final frame, but the Warriors managed to control the collateral damage, and came away with the five-point victory.

Dockery led the Warriors' charge with a game-high 20 points, while Valentine contributed 8, and Gunn and Suggs finished with 6 each.

Their victory put the Warriors into the semifinals on Saturday afternoon. Their opponent and the outcome was after press time for today's paper. But stay tuned. The Plain Talk was at that semifinal Saturday, and will have the complete story and photos for you coming up on Tuesday.

NEWPORT GRAMMAR (50): Dylan Dockery 20, Bryson Valentine 8, Sam Gunn 6, Hunter Suggs 6, Cole Sams 4, Wesley Lewis 2, D. J. Haney 2, Jack Kyker 2.

©2009 NPT PHOTO BY SETH BUTLER

Dylan Dockery goes up against Cody Underwood
of Northview on Friday night at Maury Middle School.

DANDRIDGE-Basketball is quickly beginning for area schools and it's the same for Newport Grammar School.

The Warriors and Lady Warriors tip-off their home opener on Monday evening against Rush Strong Middle School and the two teams have been preparing for the 2009-10 season in the Tommy Bettis Memorial Tournament at Maury Middle School.

The two teams have split in their opening two nights in pool play in the tournament.

While the results have been mixed and do not count towards their regular season record, Warriors and Lady Warriors coach Bryan Valentine noted that the teams have played tough competition in the first two rounds of the tournament on Thursday and Friday.

"This is tough competition for us," Valentine said. "We use it to come down here and get better. It's a whole other league to be playing this kind of competition every night."

Both Newport Grammar teams battled to a split in their first two rounds of pool play in the tournament. The Warriors defeated Westview of Morristown, but fell to Northview of Sevier County; while the Lady Warriors did just the opposite.

The Warriors ran off and left Westview in their rear view mirrors, behind a game-high 25 points from eighth grader Dylan Dockery. However, in the victory, NGS still struggled to connect from short-range shots.

The inability to hit the close shots cost the Warriors on Friday night as they dropped a 50-41 decision to Northview.

A lack of depth also cost NGS as they wore down physically and suffered from foul trouble throughout the contest.

"We're hurting with our lack of depth," said Valentine, who is performing double-duty coaching both boys and girl's teams at NGS. "We do not have a lot of offensive firepower off our bench right now, so when we have to sub it really hurts us scoring wise.

"We have to find a way to get our bench better if we want to see our record be good this year," Valentine said.

Meanwhile, Friday night was a different night for the Lady Warriors opposed to their loss on Thursday night.

Facing a powerful West View team, which feeds into the Morristown West High School system, the Lady Warriors picked a bad night to have a poor shooting performance. However, the rebound on Friday was nice as the Lady Warriors led 16-0 at the end of a quarter and 26-6 at halftime.

NGS won the game 52-12 after shutting out Northview in the fourth quarter.

"We are a young team and our girls don't have a lot of experience at a highly competitive level," Valentine said. "We will have some ups and downs, but if we can consistently make our shots, we should be in decent shape to compete."

The Lady Warriors were in shape to compete on Friday as they had Taylor Crowder and Kinsley Ford both scoring in double figures. Allison Ball and McKenzie Gregg both scored eight for Newport Grammar.

Valentine is hopeful that the success seen by both teams carries over to their home-opener on Monday.

"We need a big crowd out to see us on Monday night," Valentine said. "We've got an important game for us against Rush Strong as our home opener."

That is sandwiched around an appearance in the Tommy Bettis Tournament on Tuesday against Carter and next Saturday's tournament bracket play.