DaVae Hughley (4) of East Hamilton cuts through the middle of the Memphis East defense during a quarterfinal state tournament game Wednesday afternoon at MTSU's Murphy Center. The defending champion Mustangs cut the Hurricanes' dance short with a 76-56 win. Hughley had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds in the effort.
photo by Dennis Norwood
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Nationally ranked Memphis East played like a defending state champion here Wednesday.
Upstart East Hamilton, bolstered by 400 students in the Canes Crazies cheering section that rode from Chattanooga on nine busses, was in uncharted territory. And it showed.
The Mustangs won 76-46 and it wasn’t really that close. Half of the fourth quarter was played under the TSSAA mercy rule with a running clock.
East was taller.
East was longer.
East was more athletic.
The Mustangs took – and made – a lot of shots, shooting 48.4 percent in the game.
East Hamilton had a lot of shots altered or blocked with many missing the mark badly. The Hurricanes shot 25 percent, hitting just 14-of-55 from the floor. They were 3-of-17 from 3-point land, an anemic 17.6 percent.
And one more thing.
Memphis East was monstrously physical.
“I would say they were the most physical, most aggressive team we played all year,” East Hamilton junior forward DaVae Hughley said when it was over. “They were physical with us and we tried to be physical with them.
“We just couldn’t make shots. Other than that it was a battle between two good teams.”
Memphis East (34-3) scored 22 points in each of the first three quarters and headed to the fourth with a commanding 66-34 lead.
The Hurricanes scored 22 points in the final eight minutes, but by that time the Mustang starters were sitting on the bench with coach coach Robert Jackson waiting for the celebration to start.
Chandler Lawson took 17 points on 7-of-12 shooting and 12 rebounds with him to the sideline. Malcolm Dandridge had 12 points and Alex Lomax, the 2017 Class 3A Mr. Basketball, scored 11 points.
Conversely, sophomore Cam Montgomery managed 15 points to lead the Hurricanes and Hughley finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds in a strong effort against the dominant Mustangs.
“I enjoyed playing in that game,” he said. “It shows how much heart you have and how much you care about the game. It also shows how strong you are and how physical you can play. It’s all about that.”
The combination of size, length and athleticism East put on the floor was something the Hurricanes could not answer though.
“That’s a great trifecta,” Hughley said.
English could see the size, length and athleticism on tape, but added, “But there was nothing we could do in practice to simulate that. I think with their size and length allows them to cover a lot of ground and that made us rush some shots. We didn’t shy away from taking shots, we just didn’t make many.”
The Hurricanes (25-11) came into the postseason without a win in seven games. They changed that and eventually won a Region 3-3A title and upended Blackman in the sectional, stopping a string of five straight appearances in the state tourney.
Wednesday’s loss can’t take that away.
But it will take some time to erase the frustration of being dominated in such a fashion too.
“It was frustrating at times,” Montgomery said. “You can’t hang your head on missed shots. We’re not as long as they were and open shots can close pretty quick with the length they had against us. You have to keep your head, continue to play hard and leave it all out there on the court.”
East Hamilton coach Rodney English said the stinging loss will not detract from the successful season the Hurricanes had in his third season.
“This was a tremendous success for our school and our program,” he said. “We brought nine busses of kids with us and they never stopped cheering. My kids never stopped listening and competed for the entire game. This was an awesome experience for us.”
Memphis East had something else to play for in addition to a spot in Thursday’s semifinals against the Oak Ridge-Brentwood winner at 2:45 p.m. CDT.
On Tuesday, the TSSAA denied an appeal by Memphis State to give the Mustangs a waiver to play in the Dicks’ National basketball tournament in New York. That decision now means the Memphis East season will conclude when it either loses or wins a second straight state championship this week.
One TSSAA Board of Control member said before the Hurricanes and Mustangs took the floor at Middle Tennessee State University’s Murphy Center, “That appeal was flatly denied because we weren’t about to open that can of worms.”
Lomax responded to the board of control decision this way, “It was tough to hear. We were looking forward to that tournament and open some eyes in the country about our basketball team. We came over here with a chip on our shoulder.”
Jackson added, “We wanted to play on a grand scale like that and show they (TSSAA) made a mistake by not allowing us to go play in a national tournament. The decision wasn’t going to deter us from coming here and not be focused on this tournament.”
When talk returned to Wednesday’s game, the Mustangs’ Terrance Moss was asked what was the primary defensive plan was against the Hurricanes.
“They were a 3-point shooting team so we tried to force them to drive and not shoot outside,” he said. “Number 10 (Noah Fager) was the best outside shooter and number 11 (Justin Dozier) was their best ball-handler. We wanted to keep the ball out of their hands and make somebody else beat us.”
Obviously, that didn’t happen.
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)
A few of the over 400 "Cane Crazies" that made the trip to Murfreesboro to watch East Hamilton make its first-ever state tournament appearance.
photo by Dennis Norwood