Haywood's Dedric Boyd curls up around the basketball to protect it as he is fouled late in the game against Brainerd in a state quarterfinal matchup Thursday morning at MTSU's Murphy Center in Murfreesboro, Tenn. Boyd's game-high 33 points propelled the Tomcats past the Panthers, 82-72.
photo by Dennis Norwood
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Brainerd’s standout guard Kentrell Evans thought for a minute before assessing the talents of Haywood’s Dedric Boyd in postgame remarks following Thursday’s Class 2A state tournament game.
“He’s a great player,” Evans said. “I wish he hadn’t knocked down so many shots, but he did. Hats off to him. Going into the game we wanted to speed him up so he might rush some shots.”
Whether in a half-court situation or on a fastbreak, Boyd, who came back from knee (meniscus) surgery in the Tomcats’ sectional game, scorched the Panthers from every angle on the floor.
Boyd scored a game-high 33 points, which he said was five points from his season high. He made 11-of-22 shots, including 1-for-2 behind the 3-point line. He was 10-of-11 from the free-throw line. Boyd also grabbed five rebounds, handed out four assists and had two steals.
He was, quite simply, almost flawless in leading the Tomcats to an 82-72 victory that stopped Brainerd’s state championship bid dead in its tracks. The Panthers reached last year’s title game where they lost to Fulton 59-50.
What great gratification Boyd must have gained from that heroic offensive effort in the final eight minutes of the game.
“It feels good to take over a game like that,” he said, “but it’s nothing new to me. It’s just what I do.”
So, Boyd makes a habit of taking over?
“Yeah, me and Tristan (Jarrett) can do that,” he said.
What about Brainerd’s defense?
“They’ve got some good players over there,” Boyd said. “They’re a good team; we got nothing against them. We just outworked them.”
Brainerd coach Levar Brown, who guided his team to three straight state appearances, certainly wasn’t surprised by anything Boyd did in the quarterfinal showdown.
“He was the one guy we talked about all week after seeing him on tape,” Brown said. “Well, him and number 20 (Jarrett). We knew they were their go-to guys, but we weren’t really sure about (Boyd) because he was coming off the knee problem.
“The thing we did know was that he can flat-out shoot the ball.”
Brown then raised the bar on praising Boyd.
“He’s already a Division I player (committed to Eastern Kentucky) and he’s probably the best guy we’ve seen all year,” he said.
Told that Boyd scored 17 points in the fourth quarter when the Tomcats hit 10-of-12 field goals (83.3 percent), he said, “Wow. Then he’s definitely the best player we played.”
Haywood outscored Brainerd 30-16 in the final period.
Brainerd, trying to win its fourth state championship after taking home titles in 1984, 1988 and 1992 with runner-up finishes in 1997, 1997 and 2016, had positioned itself well with a 56-52 lead going to the fourth quarter.
Haywood’s Markeston Douglas made a layup with 11 seconds left in the third period to trim the Panthers’ lead to four points.
The Tomcats added nine more consecutive points and grabbed the upper hand at 61-56 early in the fourth.
Boyd scored seven of the 11 points.
Brainerd sliced the deficit to 62-61, but that guy – Boyd – converted a three-point play and a jumper and Jarrett added an acrobatic layup by spinning the ball off the glass to into the net, pushing the Tomcats’ lead out to 69-61 with 3:59 remaining.
Jarrett finished with 23 points and 11 rebounds and committed eight of Haywood’s 11 turnovers.
“They started finding (Boyd) more and gave him good looks and he knocked down the shots,” said Evans, who scored a team-high 21 points with seven assists and six of the Panthers’ 15 turnovers.
Said Boyd, “We raised the level up to about a 10 in that last quarter and took over,” he said. “We started pushing the ball up the floor against our opponent. Hopefully, we can do that in our next two games.”
If so, the Tomcats could be tough to beat in a championship matchup.
Boyd added five points – all on free throws – to finish he sterling final quarter and dash the Panthers’ title hopes in the process.
And he did that with just one knee 100 percent.
Boyd and coach Kendall Dancy have been measured with the player’s return to action, and that included Thursday’s game.
“I just tried to stay humble and not do too much,” Boyd said. “I went with the flow, I guess.”
That fourth quarter wasn’t a flow. The Tomcats’ sensation flooded Murphy Center with points and the proud Panthers were the humbled ones.
“The knee’s straight,” Boyd said. “Nothing wrong with it; might be a little stiff after tomorrow.”
The Tomcats’ semifinal opponent better hope so.
Either Maplewood or Sullivan East will face Haywood on Friday at 2:45 p.m. CDT.
With Thursday’s disappointing loss, the Panthers will start thinking about next season.
“It’s just a basketball game and we know that,” Evans said. “We’ve been here (state) three years in a row and we all wanted to play hard and win a championship for Chattanooga. But the sun will come up tomorrow and one day Brainerd will be back.”
While Brainerd hit 10-of-26 3-pointers, it went 6-of-18 from the floor in the final period. Junior Jessie Walker had 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Panthers.
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)
Brainerd senior guard Kentrell Evans looks over the Haywood defense as he prepares to set the Panther offense. Evans scored 21 points to lead Brainerd.
photo by Dennis Norwood