Horns locked in 5th place

A snake-bitten season has continued to slither down the homestretch for the Johnson County boys basketball team. Senior forward Darren Chappell sustained a turf toe injury last week that prevented him from playing in a 64-52 loss at West Greene on Thursday and a 59-47 home loss to South Greene on Saturday. His status is unknown for the season's remainder. "It's something that's very difficult to deal with," Johnson County coach Ethan Harmon said. "It's very painful, and there's not really a whole lot you can do other than stay off of it." Football players often miss 4-8 weeks due to the injury. Chappell hopes to be back for the district tournament that begins Feb. 19-20. "I mean it's annoying," Chappell said. "It really is just painful trying to put pressure on that foot, and it sucks in the time frame it happened. I'm just taking it slow, resting and icing it so I can make sure I can play pain-free in the tournament. That's the most important thing, so I wanna be good for it. "They said to me it would be two to three weeks. But district tourney starts soon. So, if I can just be able to play on it by then I'll be happy." Chappell wasn't the only one that didn't show up at West Greene. Before the Longhorns knew what him, the Buffaloes had bolted to a 29-9 lead. They stretched it to 43-14 by halftime. "We didn't come out with intensity on either side," Harmon said. "Credit to them, they hit a lot of shots early on. And they got some good looks. "When shots aren't falling you've really gotta rely on getting stops. … We aren't defending the way we need to be." Frontcourt player Ethan Smith led the way with 16 points for the Longhorns. "We kind of went big and played him and Avery Jones together," Harmon said. "I think we did a whole lot better with both of 'em in the game. Ethan found the open spots, he set good screens, rolled – and he hit a couple of threes as well." Guards Landin Lipford and Carson Jennings scored 14 and 10 points, respectively, against West Greene. The 'Horns cut a 29-point halftime deficit to 10 points early in the fourth quarter. "They didn't lay down, kept working and had a really good fourth quarter," Harmon said. Five players scored in double figures for West Greene. Lipford led the way with 20 points in the home loss to South Greene, which assured Johnson County of the No. 5 seed for the district tournament. Dylan Warren and Jennings added 10 and nine points, respectively. The Longhorns trailed South Greene 44-33 entering the fourth quarter. Digging out late against the Rebels isn't an enviable task. "Where they play that matchup zone, if you get behind, you've gotta really press in the fourth quarter as far as urgency," Harmon said, "because they're gonna get in the half-court and they're gonna run their stuff and get some decent looks. And you've gotta be methodical with what you do because of the matchup zone that they play. It's not like you can run a set and get a quick look. It slows you down a lot." Johnson County will visit the No. 4 seed in the opening round of the district tournament. Seeds two through four have yet to be decided. District semifinals and the championship will be played at West Ridge. Johnson County will host Three Rivers Conference champion Unicoi County on Monday. It's the final game scheduled for the moment due to weather-related scheduling alterations. Harmon hopes to get a game scheduled for Saturday in order to have a Senior Night – and to avoid a lengthy layoff prior to postseason play. Unicoi County hasn't lost a league game. "They're a good team," said Harmon, who played at North Greene when Unicoi County coach Brandon Broyles was the head coach there. "They've got some good players. They're coached well. "They are coming up to the hill, which any time teams do, you never know what's gonna happen. We've got a good home-court advantage and I'm excited for our guys and the community to have a chance at the league leaders."