CLEVELAND, Tenn. – McMinn County senior Taurean Jones was tardy for school Friday.
As it turned out, rival Bradley Central paid a heavy price for Jones’ transgression on the basketball court several hours later.
McMinn County coach Ed Clendenen dished out the disciplinary penalty and Jones sat out the first quarter of Friday’s District 5-3A basketball tournament game at Walker Valley High School.
“He took it like a man,” Clendenen said.
What happened next was one of the truly remarkable performances in recent memory of District 5-3A basketball.
Let this sink in.
After scoring two points in the first half, the 6-foot-2 Jones scored McMinn’s final 23 points of the game. He scored all 15 of the team’s fourth-quarter points and made the game-winning back-door cut layup with 1.5 seconds remaining as the Cherokees pulled out a spine-tingling 55-54 victory.
“I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a kid do that before,” Clendenen said of Jones scoring all 15 points for the team.”
While Jones was blistering the nets from every imaginable vantage point (he made three 3s, too), Bradley failed to make a field goal in the final 10 minutes.
“That probably hasn’t happened very often, either,” the veteran Clendenen said.
The Bears’ fourth-quarter offense was limited to six free throws and they managed just 14 second-half points.
Jones’ stunning hot streak went like this:
He hit a driving layup.
He knocked down a left-wing 3.
Then came a floater from the lane.
And two free throws.
Twenty-seven seconds later two more free throws.
At the 38.3-second mark, Jones added two more charity tosses, giving him six in a row.
After a McMinn timeout, Jones dropped in a non-contested layup for the winning points.
“It’s hard to have much patience sitting on the bench,” Jones said. “This is my senior year and this could have been my final game in a McMinn jersey. Late in third quarter and early fourth, I hit a couple of 3-pointers and I was clicking. I felt good and just kept shooting.”
Jones finished with a game-high 25 points and the Cherokees (10-15) kept Bradley (11-14) from reaching the region tournament for the first time in 38 years.
“I grew up watching my brother play for McMinn against Bradley and this is the second-oldest rivalry in the state, so it feels great to beat them. I’m used to playing in games like this. My sophomore year, I scored 30 points in the first-round district game against East Hamilton and we went on to the region for the first time in three years.”
With the victory, McMinn, which beat Bradley three times this season, advanced to Saturday’s semifinal against No. 1 seed Cleveland (20-4) at 4:30 p.m.
In Friday’s early game, the Walker Valley girls rallied from a six-point deficit starting the fourth period, to beat the Lady Cherokees, 45-42.
The Lady Mustangs (16-9) earned the right to play No. 1 seed Bradley Central (26-0 and ranked No. 2 by MaxPreps), in first of four semifinal games Saturday at 3 p.m.
In the other semifinals, the No. 2 East Hamilton girls play No. 3 Cleveland at 6 p.m. and the No. 3 Walker Valley boys tangle with No. 2 East Hamilton at 7:30 p.m.
With Jones on the sidelines, junior Jake Elkins carried the Cherokees’ offense early on, hitting four 3-pointers in the first quarter as the Bears built a n 18-16 lead. Elkins added a fifth 3 in the second period, but the Bears raced out to a 40-28 advantage.
It was clear that Jones was thrown off by sitting out the first eight minutes.
“He killed us in the second quarter because he was a little out of sync,” Clendenen said. “He started finding himself in the third quarter.”
The Cherokees had a mission coming out of halftime.
“Coach told us we had to get the 12 points down to six by the end of the third quarter and we did (46-40),” Jones said. “Then he was saying, ‘We need to win by two.’ We got back to the locker room and he said, ‘You all got it done, you just didn’t beat the spread.’ ”
When freshman Tray Curry retrieved a loose ball and slammed home a dunk, the Bears went up 46-34. Eleven seconds later Jones started a scoring binge that will probably make him a basketball legend in Athens for years to come.
Just before Curry’s dunk, Bradley’s Tyler Ferguson suffered an ankle injury and watched the rest of the game from the bench.
The Cherokees chipped away at Bradley’s lead and Jones’ lane floater whittled the deficit down to 48-47. Bradley’s Jared Elrod made a free throw, but at the 1:28 mark of the final quarter, Jones tied the game with two free throws. The game was tied at 51-all and 53-all.
Curry hit a free throw and Bradley had a 54-53 lead with 19.3 seconds showing.
For the second time, Clendenen called a back-door cut for Jones, he broke free and no Bradley defender was anywhere close as the McMinn standout went up for the game-winning shot.
“Coach knew I was hot and he called a backside cut two times in a row,” Jones said. “I missed the first one. On the second, Nelan, a sophomore, was going to set the pick for me. I told him, ‘I know you’re young and these refs are really watching us, so you have to make sure to plant your feet for the screen.’ The Bradley guy didn’t see the backside, I went under him and flashed-cut and came wide open. I was a little excited after that shot.”
Said Clendenen: “We went to Taurean and he answered. He made the right plays, either the pass of the shot, and he’s always been clutch at the free-throw line. But he had four other guys out there getting the ball into his hands. That last screen by Evans was great, got him open clean as a whistle and Sam (Hammonds) made the pass.”
Curry was Bradley’s main offensive weapon in the first half, scoring 16 of his 22 points before halftime. Mason Rothwell finished with 10 points.
Walker Valley girls 45, McMinn County 42: The Lady Cherokees (13-11) led 28-21 at the break and still had a six-point margin after three quarters. McMinn was up 40-34 when things started going south.
Walker Valley’s Macey Clark hit a 3 and Abbey Davis got a steal near mid-court and drove for a layup, pulling the Lady Mustangs to within 40-39. Davis’ layup produced a 41-40 lead with 57.9 seconds left.
Whitney Green’s bucket with 44.4 seconds showing shifted the lead back to McMinn at 41-41.
Emily Anderson’s layup enabled Walker Valley to regain the lead at 43-42 and two Clark free throws extended the lead to the final three-point margin.
Davis led Walker Valley with 16 points. Lauren Lay scored 14 points
Green scored a team-high 12 points for the Lady Cherokees and Kaylen Hicks added 10 points.
Boxscores
Girls Game
Walker Valley 8 13 9 15 – 45
McMinn County 18 10 8 6 – 42
Walker Valley (45) – Nipper, Abbey Davis 16, Clark 7, Anderson 5, Lauren Lay 14, Kile, Baker 3, Fowler, Gibson, Harris.
McMinn County (42) – Liner 4, Hennessee 4, Whitney Green 12, Kaylen Hicks 10, Gleaton 2, Burns 4, Manney 6, Schiestel, Baxter.
3-Point Goals – Walker Valley 2 (Clark 1, Baker 1), McMinn County 6 (Green 2, Hicks 2, Liner 1, Manney 1).
Boys Game
Bradley Central 18 22 6 8 – 54
McMinn County 16 12 12 15 – 55
Bradley Central (54) – Boyd 3, Clark 6, Tray Curry 22, Tucker 5, Ferguson 4, Cobb, Elrod 4, Mason Rothwell 10.
McMinn County (55) – Evans, Hammonds 2, Wilson 8, Runyan, Taurean Jones 25, Sharp, Brown 2, Jake Elkins 15, Hicks 3, Buckner.
3-Point Goals – Bradley Central 4 (Boys 1, Curry 1, Elrod 1, Rothwell 1), McMinn County 9 (Elkins 5, Jones 3, Hicks 1).
Saturday’s Schedule
Semifinals
Bradley Central girls vs. Walker Valley, 3 p.m.
Cleveland boys vs. either McMinn, 4:30 p.m.
East Hamilton girls vs. Cleveland, 6 p.m.
East Hamilton boys vs. Walker Valley, 7:30 p.m.
Monday’s Schedule
Girls third place, 6 p.m.
Girls championship, 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday’s Schedule
Boys third place, 6 p.m.
Boys championship, 7:30 p.m.
(Contact Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and on Twitter @larryfleming44)