The once-beaten McCallie Blue Tornado will have a chance to defend their title in the annual Best of Preps basketball tournament being played at Chattanooga State this week, but they’ll have to beat a determined Brainerd Panther team to make that happen.
McCallie improved to 10-1 with an 87-59 victory in the final game on Thursday night while Brainerd advanced to the finals with a heart-stopping 60-56 victory over arch-rival Tyner.
While McCallie-Brainerd will be the headliner at 8:30 Friday night, Tyner and Meigs County will tangle at 5:30 for third-place honors.
The day begins at 11:30 for the guys as Soddy Daisy and Central will play for seventh place after losing to Baylor and CSAS, respectively. Those last two teams will play for fifth place at 2:30 Friday.
BRAINERD 60, TYNER 56: These guys already know each other pretty well, but this was the first of what many expect to be at least four more meeting and possibly five before all is said and done.
It was a classic high school basketball game to be sure and the capacity crowd was rewarded with great effort and excellent execution on both sides. Brainerd improves to 13-2 with the win while the loss is the first for the Rams after eight straight wins to open the season.
“I thought we showed a lot of character tonight, but we talked about playing tough both mentally and physically tonight,” said Brainerd coach Levar Brown after it ended.
“Tyner is hungry and tough and they’re the real deal. We needed a tough test like this, but we just happened to make a few more plays than they did. This was a good wakeup call for us.
“Jesse Walker’s free throws at the end were huge as he had missed several earlier in the game, but we wanted him to have the ball at the end,” he said of his 6-3 junior who finished with 15 points.
“Vesta Melvin and Demba Sow got us going with their shooting and I can’t say enough about Kentrell Evans as I’m convinced he’s the best point guard in the state,” Brown praised.
Tyner coach Keitha Booker knew it would be the toughest challenge for his team at this point of the season and he was exactly right.
“That was a tough one,” he said after exiting the Tyner dressing room.
“We figured it would be a game like that as Brainerd shot the ball extremely well. It didn’t matter which defense we were in. I thought we played pretty well, but not as well as I expected. We just happened to come up a little bit short.
“That game with Baylor yesterday took a lot out of us and we came out a little flat. Brainerd was able to take advantage of that,” Booker nodded.
A free throw by Ke’Markus Young with 1:37 left in the first allowed Tyner to take an 8-6 lead at the first break.
A 3 by Young with 5:27 left in the second gave the Rams a 16-12 lead before Brainerd scored a dozen unanswered points for a 24-16 lead following a short bank shot by Walker with 1:41 left before intermission.
Jaylend Bowens and Kevin Cameron both scored on putbacks while a long 3 at the buzzer by Cameron got the Rams within one at 24-23 when the second quarter ended.
Evans nailed a 3 in the final minute of the third quarter as Brainerd knotted the score at 42 with eight minutes to play, setting up a frantic and exciting final stanza.
Brainerd went on a 7-2 run midway to turn a tie at 45 into a 52-47 lead with 3:31 to play. A three-point play 30 seconds later by Evans extended the lead to 55-48 before Tyner responded with an 8-0 run for a 56-55 lead with 1:07 to play following a drive along the baseline by Cameron.
Evans hit both ends of a one-and-one with 1:03 to play and Walker added the second of two charity tosses with 33 seconds left for a 58-56 lead, but it was the two free throws with 9.4 seconds left that were ultimately the game-winning points.
Evans led Brainerd with 18 points while Walker had 15 and Sow 11.
Cameron was a one-man highlight film for the Rams as he finished with 26 points. Jerrion Christopher was next with a dozen while Young finished with seven.
McCALLIE 87, MEIGS CO. 59: Blue Tornado coach John Shulman wasn’t a very happy fellow after Wednesday’s opening-day victory over Central, but he seemed to be a bit more pleased after the 28-point win over the Tigers some 24 hours later.
“We did a lot of talking and we watched a lot of film after last night and I just wanted them to know that we’re not slow starters. When we do what we do best, we’re a pretty good basketball team,” he said following the win over Meigs.
“I thought we got better tonight. Meigs County has a good team and they’re well coached, but it helped that their best player was out with an injury tonight.
“I just wanted for our team to have the opportunity to play for a championship on Friday night at 8:30 in front of a packed house where several hundred people will be turned away at the door because they didn’t get here early enough to get a seat. We don’t play in front of crowds like that very often and I just want them to have that experience.
“We’ll be facing a very good Brainerd team that has several outstanding players, so we’ll have to play our absolute best to have a prayer against them,” Shulman added.
Meigs County coach Sammy Perkinson certainly doesn’t like to lose, but he kept things in perspective following the loss to the top-ranked D-II team in the state.
“I thought we played well and I’m sure we got better tonight,” Perkinson said before heading to the Meigs County dressing room.
“We got a little tired in the second half, but that’s what happens when you face a team with depth like McCallie has. We played one of the best teams in the state and we competed, so I’m happy about that. We let them jump out to a big lead early and that never helps, but it’s tough to play a game like that when your best player is out. Hopefully, we’ll have him back in a couple of weeks,” he said about Zy Moore, who was injured in the first half Wednesday night.
A 3 from Clint Oliver gave the Tigers a 3-2 lead a minute into play, but McCallie then went on a 16-2 run for an 18-5 lead following a 3 by Max Shulman with 5:30 left in the opening stanza.
The Tigers never backed down and were only down 26-15 when the first quarter ended, but McCallie’s relentless defensive pressure eventually took its toll and the Mercy Rule took effect with 4:48 to play after Jonathan Hewitt sank a pair of free throws to give McCallie an 87-52 lead.
The Blue Tornado never scored again as Meigs finished the game with seven straight points.
Junior Clay and Jay Gibson both tallied 14 points as McCallie had five players in double figures. Trip Butler was next with 12 while Mac Hunt and Jorden Starling both finished with 10.
Cam Harris had 13 points to lead the Tigers, who are now 9-2 overall. Oliver tallied a dozen while Wriley Smith and Brantley Baker scored nine points apiece.
BAYLOR GOT 20 points from Beyaun Hendricks in a 65-30 win over Soddy Daisy while Tre Jackson and Boris Ristanovic had 13 and 10 points, respectively, for the Red Raiders. Jacob Flippo tossed in 18 points for Soddy Daisy.
Darius Graves had 16 points while teammates Jameel Dodds and Miguel Hamilton had a dozen each as CSAS rallied from a 48-40 deficit in the fourth quarter to beat Central, 53-50.
McClendon Curtis had another outstanding game for Central as he finished with 24 points, 17 rebounds and four blocked shots. Davon Reed had 12 in a supporting role for the Purple Pounders.
BOYS SEMIFINAL SUMMARIES
BRAINERD 6 18 18 18 -- 60
TYNER 8 15 19 14 -- 56
BRAINERD (60) – Melvin 6, Bradley 6, Evans 18, Hampton 3, Chapman, Herman 1, Walker 15, Sow 11.
TYNER (56) – Cameron 26, Young 7, Bridgeman, McCauley 3, Bowens 2, Little, Christopher 12, Elston 3.
3-POINT GOALS: Brainerd 9 (Melvin 2, Evans 2, Hampton, Walker, Sow 3); Tyner 7 (Cameron 3, Young, Christopher 2, Elston).
McCALLIE 26 25 27 9 -- 87
MEIGS COUNTY 15 18 14 12 -- 59
McCALLIE (87) – Starling 10, Watson 1, Walker, Clay 14, Gibson 14, Hewitt 5, Edge 3, Shulman 9, Clark 2, Hunt 10, Lewis, Butler 12, Riddle 5, Grace 2.
MEIGS CO. (59) – Smith 9, Baker 9, Harris 13, Rayl 6, Simmons 6, Oliver 12, Fowler, Swanson 4.
3-POINT GOALS: McCallie 8 (Clay, Hewitt, Edge, Shulman, Hunt 2, Butler 2); Meigs Co. 8 (Smith 3, Baker, Harris, Rayl, Oliver 2).
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)