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Unaka too much for Tri-Cities

By Allen LaMountain

Senior wing Billy Bales paced the scoring column with 23 points on Saturday afternoon to lead Unaka past Tri-Cities Christian 67-38 at the Climate Controllers Classic at VanHuss-White Gym.

Bales tallied 12 points in the third quarter alone, hitting three consecutive three point shots as the Rangers ran away from the Eagles with superior rebounding, defense and three point shooting.

The Rangers (4-5 overall) opened with a 15-9 first quarter lead as senior guard Spencer Nave hit a pair of deuces and a trey in the period — and Unaka took a 25-18 halftime advantage with Bales and Nave each tallying eight points in the half. Nave finished with 10 points for Unaka.

“I think it was about us getting rebounds and kickouts,” said Nave. “The team got me open and we got some put backs in the first half, which all combined gave us a boost. We went after the rebounds tonight and that helped us tremendously.”