Demarion Bowman led Chattanooga Prep to its second straight Class 1A state championship Saturday afternoon at MTSU's Murphy Center. Bowman had 15 points in the Sentinels' 77-50 win.
photo by Bryan Cannon
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Let’s just say “Mission Accomplished” for the Chattanooga Prep Sentinels Saturday afternoon at MTSU’s Murphy Center.
It was about this same time last year when the Sentinels won their first Class A state basketball championship and they made a vow to each other at that time that their number one goal for this season was to win it again.
They finished with 29 wins against eight losses, including 17 straight wins, but this latest was a total blowout as they thoroughly whipped a Hillcrest team that entered Saturday’s title game with a record of 28-3.
It seemed like the officials wanted to be the center of attention as they called 49 total fouls, 25 on Hillcrest and 24 on the Sentinels. A total of 73 free throws were shot in a game that took two hours and seven minutes to complete.
We all know that this has been an incredibly difficult for everyone associated with this school and the basketball team, but what a great way to finish on a positive note.
Prep coach Christian Collins was one unhappy fellow on Friday following one of his team’s worst games of the year. They won despite having 18 turnovers, missing almost half of their free throws and allowing 14 offensive turnovers.
He felt a whole lot better about 24 hours later.
“I’m about 10 times happier as we did a great job of bouncing back,” he smiled in the post-game interview room.
“This is a brand new team from a year ago, but they all stepped up to the plate today. I thought we handled all the adversity well and our defense was excellent. That’s how I’ve been wanting them to play all season, but our energy was through the roof. Sometimes it’s hard to stay focused when the stake are so high, but I feel like we played our best basketball of the season in the second half. And there was no better way to top off an otherwise difficult week,” he added.
Hillcrest coach Dareyon Terrell certainly didn’t like Saturday’s outcome, but his team had an amazing season and he was totally happy about that.
“It hurts right now, but I feel good. We made it as we beat some really good teams to get here, but it just came down to experience. We just didn’t do what we were supposed to do, but I’m totally confident that we’ll be back. Anything is possible,” he nodded.
Jacoby Lewis, who led all scorers with 26 points, scored the first bucket of the game in the opening minute, but that was the only time the Vikings led as the Sentinels evened the score on a bucket by Cadence Collins and proceeded to score 10 of the next 14 points for a 12-6 lead when the first quarter ended.
The Sentinels kept working and had their biggest lead of a dozen points with 1:17 left in the half following a layup from Collins before Alex Morgan sank four straight free throws in the last 36 seconds to cut Prep’s lead to 30-23 at intermission.
The game still somewhat close at this point, but the Sentinels totally took charge in the final 16 minutes and outscored their opponent 47-27 and finally got a running clock with 4:40 left following a three-point play by Marcus Jones.
The Sentinels didn’t have many close games this season, including Wednesday’s opener against Santa Fe where they won by 40 and then in Saturday’s final where the difference was 27.
Demarion Bowman was one of four Prep players to finish in double figures as he led the way with 15 points. Jaydan Parker was next with 11 while Joel Bulis and Derrick Roberson both had 10.
Lewis was tops for Hillcrest with 26 while Cornell Watson added 11.
The Sentinels finished the game making 26 of 54 field goals for 48.1 percent that included 13 of 27 in each half. They only hit two of seven from long range for 28.6 percent and 23 of 38 free throws for 60.5 percent.
Hillcrest was 13 of 40 from the field for 32.5 percent and two of eight from long range for 25 percent. They were good on 22 of 35 free throws for 62.9 percent.
The Sentinels also had a 40-25 advantage in rebounds. Bulis grabbed 11 and Roberson seven for Prep while Taurus Tucker snagged six for Hillcrest.
Roberson was named tournament MVP for the second straight year as he had seven rebounds, three assists and two blocks in addition to his 10 points.
Austin Jones, Bowman, Collins and Bulis also made the all-tournament team. Other selections included Lewis and Morgan of Hillcrest, Cayman Camfield and Justice Bell of Wayne County and Darion Taylor of Humboldt.
CHAMPIONSHIP SUMMARY
|
HILLCREST
|
6
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17
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11
|
16
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-- 50
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|
CHATT PREP
|
12
|
18
|
26
|
21
|
--77
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HILLCREST (50) – Jacoby Lewis 26, Miller 7, Cornell Watson 11, Morgan 6, Tucker, Willis, Risby, Jones, Davis, McCray, Smith.
CHATTANOOGA PREP (77) – Collins 7, A. Jones 8, Demarion Bowman 15, Joel Bulis 10, Derrick Roberson 10, Sutton 2, Watkins, Williams 5, Craig, Jaydan Parker 11, Koon 6, M. Jones 3.
3-POINT GOALS: Hillcrest 2 (Lewis, Watson); Chattanooga Prep 2 (Bowman, Williams).
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)