By: Lee Ramsey
lee@seymourherald.com
Ever throw gasoline on an open fire?  That’s what the Seymour Eagle basketball team looked like the first quarter of the Cosby basketball game recently as the Eagles defeated Cosby by a score of 73-53 at Seymour.  The combustion happened in the 1st quarter as the explosive Eagles finished the first quarter up 21-5.
The win makes Seymour 6-1 on the season as the district part of the schedule is ready to begin.  Cosby drops to 2-2.
The air had an electric feel.  If you haven’t been to a Seymour basketball game this year, you’ve missed a treat.
The big first quarter lead was fueled by Seymour’s front line of D. J. Griffin, Bobo Chesser and Eric White.
They were complemented with outside shooting from Logan Jenkins, Gunner Gibson and Peyton Lee.
After the initial surge in the first quarter by the Eagles, the lead stayed somewhat the same for the rest of the game.  The score was 43-22 at the half and 59-38 at the end of the third quarter.
The Eagles at times looked overpowering inside with depth and balance.
“(Cosby) gave it to us pretty good last year,” said Seymour Basketball Coach Brian Jessie. “Cosby played really hard out of the gate.  They jump on you quick; therefore we knew we needed a good start.  
“That was a key to this win.  We have some depth this year.  We can go 5 in 5 out if we need to.  That’s an advantage.  When we can score we can get into our press and get after it.”
The game was basically over after the first quarter with Seymour gaining a 4 point spread the second half.
Senior Eric White led the team in scoring with 15 while adding 8 rebounds.  He was followed by Griffin, Chesser and Jenkins who added 13 each.  
“I played pretty good.  I’m improving as the season goes along,” said junior standout D. J. Griffin.  “I feel like I’m better than I was last year because I am working harder and I understand Coach Jessie’s system.”
Jenkins hit 4 of 6 from 3 point range and Chesser had a double-double by raking in 11 rebounds.
Lee followed in scoring with 5 points and Gibson, Jake McBrayer and Nick Walker tallied 4 apiece.
Leading scorer for Cosby was Corey Valentine with 20.
“We didn’t play well at Grainger County but we responded well with the win tonight,” said Jessie.
The Eagles only have 12 active players as two more are injured but depth is good due to the fact that everyone on the team contributes.
“Our kids understand the program better this year,” said Jessie. “They understand what we are trying to do but we’ve got to keep improving.”
Next the Eagles travel to Morristown West in a tough IMAC contest.

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