So much for easing into the state tournament.
At Saturday’s draw for the TSSAA boys’ basketball competition this week in Murfreesboro, defending champion Tennessee Temple was matched against top-ranked and unbeaten Union City in the Class A bracket. Temple’s Crusaders will play the Golden Tornadoes in the first game of the tournament Wednesday at 11:30 a.m. EDT.
“If you’re going to win it all, you have to beat them sooner or later,” Temple coach Caleb Marcum said. “We’re not just going up there to play one game. We’ve beat some pretty good teams, and we can beat these boys. I believe with all my heart it’s going down to the wire.”
In the AA bracket, fifth-ranked Howard will play fourth-ranked Bolivar Central at 1:15 p.m. EDT Thursday, and in AAA, Red Bank opens against eighth-ranked Dobyns-Bennett at 6:15 Thursday.
Temple is the only Class A team returning from last year’s state-tournament field and the only 2007 champion back in any classification. The Crusaders have advanced to the state tournament six of the last seven years and claimed three championships. They would become the first Chattanooga team with four titles.
Union City (34-0) has beaten five AA teams, including two that are in the state tournament, as well as a AAA team and has a win over 5A teams from Georgia and Arkansas. Only six of the Golden Tornadoes’ games against Class A foes have been decided by fewer than 10 points, and they have 14 wins of 30-plus points.
They are led by Mr. Basketball finalist M.J. Brown and as a team have attempted 1,178 3-pointers this season, compared to Temple’s 500.
“We’re going to talk to our kids about what we can do to win this game, not how good Union City is,” Marcum said. “Our kids love challenges. We have no pressure; they have all the pressure. We’ve seen a lot of styles against some really good teams, and the reason we play a tough schedule is to prepare us for this right here.”
Red Bank’s opponent, Dobyns-Bennett, is back in the tournament for the first time in four years, led by 6-foot-10 Bronson Flack, as well as Jordan Edwards (6-6) and Marshall Hardy (6-5). The Indians (30-3) have won 19 of their last 20 games.
“I think it will come down to how much our kids believe in themselves and how well they execute,” Lions coach John Cherne said. “I like our focus. Tim Benford stopped practice Friday and made sure people were serious and that they knew to go up there prepared to win.
“You like having that kind of senior leadership and focus.”
Howard, which has won at least 30 games in back-to-back seasons, will attempt to claim the its first state title against a Bolivar program that owns two championships in the last four years and has won 17 of its last 18 games this season.
Boys’ state basketball tournament at Middle Tennessee State University
All Times Eastern
Wednesday
Class A
Tennessee Temple (23-9) vs. Union City (34-0), 11:30 a.m.
Thursday
Class AA
Howard (30-2) vs. Bolivar Central (28-4), 1:15 p.m.
Class AAA
Red Bank (26-7) vs. Dobyns-Bennett (30-3), 6:15 p.m.
Stephen has covered high school sports in the tri-state area since the early 1990s, starting at the News-Free Press as a 19-year-old reporter. He has been with the Times Free Press since its inception and has been an assistant sports editor for more than seven years. Stephen is among the most decorated writers in the TFP’s newsroom, winning numerous state and regional awards for his writing on high school athletics. He has two children, Riley ...
