©2009 NPT PHOTO SUBMITTED

Members of the Cocke County High School Fighting Cocks celebrate
their championship won last week at the Midway Holiday Classic.
Members of the team include, at front from left, Roger Helton, Marcus Stewart,
Logan Suggs, Heath Ford, Brandon Davis, Darion Elliott and Casey Ragan.
At rear, from left, Chase Atkins, Taylor Shults, Jake Schindler, Jared McGaha,
Krys Cates and Jeramie Haney.

KINGSTON-The Cocke County High School Fighting Cocks are back in their offensive rhythm after their performance at the Midway Holiday Classic last week.

CCHS rolled through the event winning all three games, increasing their offensive output every game.

The Fighting Cocks, who are now 11-4 this season, were averaging near 65 points per game after starting the season 8-1. However a three-game losing streak to end the first half of the season, saw the Fighting Cocks struggling to score as easy as it had been previously.

They hope that problem is rectified after last week's tournament.

"Hopefully going down there and playing in that tournament helped us get back to a rhythm that we hadn't had in a few weeks," CCHS coach Ray Evans said. "For us to play three games in four days and stay down there, hopefully we can look back on this to see where we turned our season back in the right direction."

The Fighting Cocks won their tournament opener with Pickett County, out of District X-A, by an eight-point margin, after holding a lead of over 15 points in the second half.

On Monday, CCHS improved their offensive efficiency, knocking off Class AA Knox Gibbs 85-80. Junior Chase Atkins, who worked his way into the starting lineup for the first time this season in the team's last game prior to the Christmas break at Farragut, again got the starting nod and scored a game-high 30 points to lead CCHS to the win.

That win over Gibbs advanced CCHS to the championship game on Tuesday night and provided the Fighting Cocks a depth building opportunity. Sophomore guard Brandon Davis increased his playing time, giving the Fighting Cocks another guard off the bench and building back a rotation spot after losing junior Kurt Brooks (knee) for the season.

In that title game, CCHS trounced Jellico of District 3-A, 92-62, dominating the entire way through.

The Fighting Cocks open their second half of the season with a home game against Morristown West this Friday night. Tipoff of the boy's varsity game is slated for 8 p.m.