Brainerd's Jesse Walker (32) drives for a basket in opening round TSSAA state tournament action. Walker finished with 10 points. The Panthers were overrun by a strong, number one ranked, Christ Presbyterian Academy team by a 77-43 score. The action took place at MTSU's Murphy Center in Murfreesboro.
photo by Dennis Norwood
MURFREESBORO – The Brainerd Panthers got off to a good start in their opening-round game with Christ Presbyterian Academy at the TSSAA State basketball tournament here at MTSU’s Murphy Center Thursday afternoon.
Unfortunately, the finish wasn’t nearly as good as the start as the Panthers dropped a 77-43 decision in the Class AA quarterfinal round.
Brainerd played toe-to-toe with the number-one rated team in the state. Marques Tipton scored the first bucket from the line with 7:31 to give the Panthers a 2-0 lead and Jesse Walker sank a jumper in the lane with just over a minute remaining as Brainerd had a 19-17 lead when the first quarter ended.
CPA, improving to 32-4 with its 21st straight win, used an 8-0 run at the start of the second period to lead 25-19 and another 6-0 run two minutes later stretched the lead to 31-24 following a short bank shot by Tyger Campbell with 2:55 before halftime.
Walker scored two times in the final three seconds of the quarter to get Brainerd to within 36-32 when the horn sounded for halftime.
The difference was four points three times in the second half, the last time at 42-38 with 5:13 to play following a drive down the lane by Brainerd’s Kentrell Evans.
Unfortunately, Brainerd only had one more field goal the rest of the game – and just five points total – as the Lions totally pulled away in the second half to finish on a 35-5 run.
Tipton’s two free throws at the 1:24 mark of the third got Brainerd to within 56-41, but by the time Walker scored on a drive just over eight minutes later, the winners had a comfortable 75-43 lead and were well on their way to Friday’s semifinals.
CPA will face Haywood, which eliminated Carter by a 74-69 final in the second AA quarterfinal of the day.
“We just got tired defensively in the second half as we had a horrible time trying to score,” said Brainerd coach Levar Brown after his team’s season ended with a record of 22-8.
“We try to rely on our defense most of the time, but our legs were tired in the second half. That number 11 (Blackwell) is a monster as he’s legit, but they played smart offensively and they took advantage of our mistakes.
“I’ve never seen our team shoot the ball as bad as we did in the second half. I’m guessing we didn’t hit 10 percent as we missed a bunch of wide-open shots, but we’ll do our best to get back here next year,” Brown added.
The Panther coach wasn’t far off as his team hit just four of 27 shots from the field in the final two quarters for a cool 14.8 percent while hitting 18 of 61 for the game for 29.5 percent.
“It was a simple mission for us in the second half as we needed to win the tough plays, get loose balls and control the boards,” said CPS coach Drew Maddux.
“We also wanted to get the ball to Braxton Blackwell and start scoring in the paint,” the former Vanderbilt star added.
The coach got his wish as Blackwell scored 18 of his game-high 31 points in the second half, including 14 in the third quarter when a close game began to look like a blowout.
Blackwell, CPA’s 6-8 junior who is being recruited by everyone, also grabbed nine rebounds as the Lions had a resounding 44-20 advantage on the boards.
“We needed to have a run in the second half, to make something big happen in the third quarter,” Blackwell said in the media room afterwards.
“I feel like it’s my job to step up and make big things happen when a game gets close, but I thought we punched them in the mouth in the second half,” he added.
While Blackwell had 31 points to lead the victorious Lions, Campbell added 15 and Parker Howell eight.
Evans was tops for Brainerd with 11 points whihle Walker was next with 10. Da’V Moore, the emotional lead for Brainerd who spearheads the defense, was held to just six points and two rebounds after fouling out in the first minute of the fourth quarter.
While Brainerd couldn’t hit the ocean from the end of the pier in the second half, CPA was equally as hot as the Lions hit 19 of 23 for 82.6 percent and 30 of 46 for the game for a sizzling 65.2 percent.
BRAINERD 19 13 9 2 -- 43
CHRIST PRESBYTERIAN 17 19 24 17 -- 77
BRAINERD (43) – Tipton 7, Evans 11, Melvin 2, Herman, Moore 6, Sow, Ross 5, Beavers 2, Hampton, Cothran, Walker 10.
CPA (77) – Blackwell 31, Campbell 15, Ragsdale 6, Davis 3, Johnson 5, Deaton, 2, Mayernick 2, Spencer, Harris 3, Scott 2, Washburn, Howell 8.
3-POINT GOALS: Brainerd 1-15 (Tipton 0-6, Evans 1-3, Melvin 0-3, Beavers 0-2, Hampton 0-1); CPA 4-11 (Campbell 1-3, Ragsdale 2-4, Davis 1-3, Harris 0-1).
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@comcast.net)
Marques Tipton (5) of Brainerd takes the ball into no-man's-land against a very tough Christ Presbyterian Academy defense. The Panthers only managed a low 29.5 field goal percentage (18-61, 4-27 in the 2nd half) for the game.
photo by