Tennessee Temple shows heart in state tourney loss

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — With 4.3 seconds remaining in Wednesday’s Class A quarterfinal, there was no reasonable explanation for Tennessee Temple to still have a chance.

But as Union City’s M.J. Brown, a 67-percent free-throw shooter, stepped to the line, the Golden Tornadoes’ lead was a shaky two points. The Mr. Basketball finalist connected on both attempts and Union City, which had won five of its seven postseason games by double digits, had survived with a four-point win.

In all but one of Temple’s previous seven state tournament appearances the Crusaders had embraced the spoiler’s role, taking great pride in upsetting higher-ranked teams to claim three state championships and finish runner up once.

But the Crusaders had never been as outmanned as they were against top-ranked Union City, the state’s only unbeaten team.

Forget the fact that Temple was the defending state champion. Junior Jeremy Sexton was the only member of the team with any state tournament experience, including the coaching staff and their lone senior averaged just four points this season.

Meanwhile Union City, which won the state title two years ago, had seven seniors whose career record is 126-16, as well as superior depth with eight players averaging at least 12 minutes per game. The Tornadoes had 14 wins of 30-plus points.

“Everybody expected us to get blown away today,” Temple coach Caleb Marcum said.

For the first five minutes of the game it appeared like that was exactly what would happen. Save Sexton, Temple’s starters looked overwhelmed by their surroundings early. With just over two minutes left in the first quarter, Temple had seven turnovers, had missed its first five shots and trailed 11-0.

But Sexton, who had carried Temple through the postseason, averaging 26 points, again took charge. Despite facing a defense Union City coaches describe as “controlled chaos”, Sexton finished with 30 points, making 11 of 16 shots.

“Some of our guys got rattled early with their press,” Sexton said. “I was just trying to keep everybody calm and let them know we would make a run.

“That was the toughest defense we’ve played all year. We had to work for everything we got. But we weren’t going to give up.”

A 6-0 run in the final minute of the second quarter left Temple facing 13-point deficit to begin the second half.

Once the Crusaders settled in, they made 12 of 16 second-half shots and took a short-lived lead early in the fourth quarter on Kendell Peterson’s 3-pointer.

After Union City countered with a 10-0 run, Temple again showed its grit by twice rallying from six-point deficits in the final 30 seconds. Down two in the closing seconds, the Crusaders had a chance to tie the game or possibly take the lead but Sexton, who had been double teamed throughout the fourth, never got a handle on a pass attempt Brown made both free throws, it finally exhausted all hope.

“In a word, it was heart that kept us in it,” said Crusaders coach Caleb Marcum, the third coach to bring Temple to the tournament in the last 11 years. “Kids that play at Temple just have a belief they can compete with anybody.”

With its knack for postseason success and so much experience back next year, the Crusaders will again be a favorite to return to the state tournament. If they do make it back, they should be prepared to play a favorite’s role for a change.