The McCallie Blue Tornado upended Ensworth twice during the regular season, but that was not the case Monday night in the Division II-AA State Quarterfinal as the four-time defending state champion Ensworth Tigers stormed from behind to put an end McCallie's season and claim a 55-51 victory.
Despite Ensworth’s recent success, first year McCallie Head Coach John Shulman and his team did not come out intimidated and outplayed the Tigers early. Ensworth’s Desmond Cambridge started the game with a bucket in front of the ruckus crowd at McCallie’s Sports and Activities Center. However, the Blue Tornado fed off the crowd and howled past Ensworth to score 16 straight points, led by sophomore forward Seth Clark, before taking an 18-7 lead after one quarter of play.
“We were messed up early,” Ensworth Head Coach Richard Bowers said as he complimented the atmosphere at McCallie. “I don’t know what we were thinking about.”
The Tigers quickly awoke after the slow start and began to prey on the Blue Tornado’s defense as the team scored 23 second quarter points, led by nine from Cambridge. However, McCallie scored 17 points of its own to keep the slight lead after the first half. Ensworth continued to slowly chip away at the lead for the rest of the third quarter behind a looting defense.
“They’re relentless defensively,” Shulman said.
That relentlessness continued to claw at the Blue Tornado offense through the final eight minutes of play. The first three quarters ended in a tie and set up for another thrilling finish between two of the area’s top teams.
McCallie won both regular season matchups between the two teams by a total of three points. This game, with much more on the line, was setting up for an even more electrifying finish.
With 6:29 remaining in the game, Cambridge scored to give Ensworth its first lead since scoring the first basket of the game. The Tigers didn’t look back. Cambridge and senior Nick Rolfe came up with big plays late in the game to keep Ensworth ahead.
“(Rolfe) just decided he was going to get the ball,” Bowers said of his senior leader. “He doesn’t shoot that well, he doesn’t dribble that well and he doesn’t pass that well, but there’s something to heart.”
Heart may have been a deciding factor in the game, but so were free throws. Ensworth converted 17 of 25 shots from the charity stripe in the game, five of seven in the fourth quarter, while McCallie had two more attempts but made three less free throws. The Blue Tornado missed five of eleven free throws in the game’s final eight minutes and missed on several attempts that could have tied the game.
“We’ve won every close game (this season),” Shulman said. “But it’s like playing with fire, sometimes you can get burnt. We missed a bunch of big free throws.”
McCallie still had a chance to tie the game with 15.6 second left and down by three, but a 3-pointer rimmed out and Ensworth held on for the close victory.
Ensworth survived and kept the dream of another state championship alive, but Shulman saw the positive for his squad.
“We’re trying to build a program,” Shulman said after the loss ended his first season leading the Blue Tornado.
McCallie finished the season with 24 wins; one shy of tying the school’s record set in 1934 and tied in 1947. However, the team is still young. McCallie graduates only one senior starter, Jordan Atkins, and starts three underclassman.
With the victory, Ensworth advances to the TSSAA State Championships semifinal game on Thursday at Lipscomb University in Nashville where they will try to win a fifth consecutive state championship.
Scoring Summary
Ensworth 7 23 11 14 – 55
McCallie 18 17 6 10 – 51
Ensworth (55) – Starling 5, Bone 13, Settles 1, Cambridge 24, Rolfe 9, Barnett 1, Antonutti 2.
McCallie (51) – Craig 7, Clay 6, Thomas 5, Clark 10, Hunt 7, Atkins 7, Riddle 3, McColley 2, Hightower 4.
3-point goals – Ensworth 4 (Bone 2, Cambridge 2), McCallie 3 ( Craig, Hunt, Riddle).
(E-mail Mark Pace at MarkEPace@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @THEMarkPace)