Seymour High School Basketball 2009-2010

Gatlinburg-Pittman Highlanders 17, Seymour Eagles 13

Both teams were pleased with there performance in a battle that wasn’t decided until 3.8 seconds remaining in the contest.

Gatlinburg-Pittman Highlanders and Seymour Eagles battled to a 13-13 tie as time dwindled to the final buzzer. The scrappy Eagles squad led most of the way, but the Highlanders heated up late in the win.

In the closing seconds, G-P junior Jose Agosto managed to work his way through the bodies flooding the post and hit a layup to take a 15-13 lead with just 3.8 seconds on the clock.

G-P’s Jon McCroskey, who won the three-point shooting contest on a buzzer-beater just a few minutes earlier, stole the ensuing inbound pass and hit another Blue-and-Gold layup, again as the buzzer sounded.

Despite coming up short, first-year Seymour coach Brian Jessie liked what he saw from his determined squad.

“We competed,” said Jessie. “And that’s all you can ask from the boys. The jamboree is good to get those jitters out, and that’s the number one thing you want to do, and I think we did that.”

The Eagles’ downfall in the scrimmage was at the free-throw line, where they missed seven of their 15 attempts, most of the misses coming in the second half of the quarter.

In their second consecutive scrimmage action, the Highlanders opened slow. But for the second time in a row, the team came on late.

“We still have a lot of work to do,” said G-P coach Raul Placeres. “But there was a good environment tonight, and the kids haven’t been used to playing in front of a lot of people.

“It was a good crowd, and it was great that the community supported all the kids from all the teams this way. I know it means a lot to the players.

“We were tight at the beginning, but that’s what was good about this jamboree. It was good to have 12 minutes of a learning experience. I’m happy, and I’m looking forward to a very good season.”

G-P senior McKinley Maples and junior Morrease Barber — who won the slam-dunk contest prior to the scrimmage against Seymour — led G-P with four points apiece. Marquise Wall added three, and McCroskey had the deuce at the buzzer.

Seymour’s Skylar Brown led the Eagles with six points, Alex Lambert had four and Logan Jenkins and Tyler Tilson had three each, while Jordan Lee sank a charity shot.

G-P opens the season 6:30 p.m. tonight when the Highlanders host the Knoxville Ambassadors for a Hall of Fame contest.

Seymour hosts William Blount 8 p.m. tonight, also for a Hall of Fame game.

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Coach Brian Jessie has been named the new boys basketball coach at Seymour.

Jessie joins the team after coaching at Union County where his teams have won 111 games in the last six years. In his last season with the Patriots, the team won 27 games, clinching district and regional titles and hosting the sectional game.

"We are very excited to have Brian on our coaching staff and look forward to working with him in the future," Athletic Director Gary Householder said.

In an interview Tuesday, Jessie said that he is very excited to be joining the Eagles, and that things have gotten off to a good start.

"I actually met the kids last Friday. It's tough right now because they're in that transition; they didn't know what to expect. We're still in the process of contacting everybody who played last year and the upcoming freshman and assembling the staff and finding out what we need here. It's been a really, really busy time for us, but we practiced yesterday and will practice again today, and so far it's going well. Of course they're hard workers - everybody knows that about Seymour kids. They haven't disappointed me at all. They've got good attitudes and they're excited - nervous of course, but that's on both sides right now," Jessie said.

Jessie is looking forward to learning more about the team and his individual players over the course of the summer.

"We've gotten into some camps. We're going to Maryville team camp next week, and Saturday we're going to have a scrimmage at Gatlinburg. We're trying to get some games in for this summer so we can get more acquainted," Jessie said.

Jessie said that while he hasn't had time to sit down and analyze film yet, he said Seymour fans can expect to see a little faster-paced basketball next season.

"Coach Windle did a good job starting the building process back, and I just want to continue on that. I would definitely say that from what I've heard - just hearsay - we will be a lot more up-tempo. We will attack and press and push the ball. It's a fun brand of basketball. It's geared toward the way kids are now. Nowadays they're more up and down - they like to run more, and that attracts a lot of athletes," Jessie said.

Jessie said he's both excited and nervous about moving up a division next year - but mostly excited. After his success at Union County, he said that competing at the next level was one of the reasons he was drawn to Seymour.

"If you're a competitor, you want to compete at the highest level. We felt like we had turned our program (Union County) into a very good AA program - one of the best in East Tenn. But what's better than that? Triple A. I'm more excited than nervous. We're familiar with a lot of the coaching staff in this league. I've met several of them at camps and past tournaments, and we know their style. It's a different league for Seymour because it goes from a speed league with Austin East, Fulton and Carter to a power league where you get Morristown East, Morristown West and Cherokee. They're still very good athletes, and there's a bigger pool of athletes, but they're going to play more power basketball," Jessie said.

"I told the boys that where they probably got beat by speed the past four years with Austin East and Fulton, this year if they don't watch it, they're going to get beat by power. We've got to get stronger. But the one thing about Seymour kids is that they're tough kids. That's what I like about them; they're going to be fine," he continued.

Jessie also said that other draws for him were the strong reputation of the community and the relationships he had already established with other coaches at Seymour.

"I've known Coach Householder for a while and coached against him in football. When I played high school football I actually played against him too, so we've got a good long relationship. He's just a class act, and that was the type of people I felt like I was coming to, so I haven't been surprised (with the welcome I've received), I was expecting it, and it's lived up to all my expectations," Jessie said.

He also has ties with Assistant Football Coach Jon McBrayer who is also a former Patriot. The two coached football together at Union County before Jessie decided to retire from football and focus solely on basketball.

Jessie and the team will be hard at work this summer, gearing up for a new season in a new league.

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