Basketball Flames add transfers trio

Two former Ohio Valley Conference basketball players and a junior college All-American from Georgia Perimeter recently signed to play for the Lee University men's team in 2012-13. Six-foot-7 strong forward James Johnson from Milwaukee was the Georgia juco player of the year after averaging 15.6 points and 10.5 rebounds a game last season. "He is an outstanding athlete who can play inside or outside for us," Lee coach Tommy Brown said. Georgia Perimeter coach Alfred Barney praised Johnson's maturity and leadership and called him the "glue that held our team together" in a 23-7 season. The Flames' two NCAA Division I pickups are Muniru Bawa, a 6-11 Ghana native who played this past year for Tennessee State after putting in a season and a redshirt year at Indiana University, and 6-1 Will Barnes from Tuscaloosa, Ala., who played three years for Tennessee Tech. Brown called Bawa "very strong and athletic" and said, "Muniru can rebound, play defense and run the floor, but he still needs work on his shooting touch around the rim." Barnes has been out of school a couple of years but averaged 10 points a game and shot 48 percent from the field and 38.4 percent on 3-pointers in his last year at Tech. "He is a scoring guard. He's strong and powerful and was an excellent defender for Tech," Brown said. "If everything falls into place and with the mixture of returnees with our new recruits, we could have the makings of a good club."

Baseball

• CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Former Baylor School standout Tyler Massey played Tuesday night in the South Atlantic League all-star baseball game. The Asheville outfielder went 0-for-2 in the South's 3-2 loss, but he has batted .335 with seven home runs, 45 runs and 43 RBIs in 57 games so far this season.

• The Chattanooga Cyclones K and SM baseball teams each went 2-1 in the Mississippi State Invitational tournament this past weekend. In the Cyclones K's 17-3 win over Birmingham Baseball Red, Jake Wyrick got the pitching win and Lee Gibson, Brody Binder and Drew Williams each had three hits while Logan Baldwin, Nick Chambers, Winston Whitener, Josh Poole and Kyle Kapheyr added two apiece. Gibson had two triples and drove in five runs and Williams was the winning pitcher and had two hits in a 13-2 defeat of Southern Prosports Grey. The Cyclones K lost 2-1 to Southern Prosports Blue despite Jackson McClain's and Baldwin's combined four-hit pitching, two hits each from Baldwin and Chambers and Binder's triple scoring Chambers. The Cyclones SM beat Prosports Blue 3-0 with Jordan Whitemire's shutout pitching, two hits from Hunter Hudson, two runs for T.J. Binder and a Matt Allen RBI hit. SM edged the Jackson 96ers 6-5 in extra innings as Brent Smith got the win in relief of Zach Thompson's strong pitching. Bobby Towne hit a two-run double, Cody Rhinehart and T.J. Binder had two hits each, Rhinehart with an RBI, and Sheldon Brodgen scored twice. Rhinehart and Allen had RBI hits in a 6-2 loss to Birmingham Baseball Blue.

Football

• Chattanooga-area players led Tennessee to a 20-16 win over Kentucky in an eighth-grade football all-star game last Saturday in Louisville, Ky. Ten area boys were among the 45 players picked from more than 350 in the state trying out. The game is scheduled to be televised at 8 p.m. Saturday on Fox Sports South. McCallie's London Elrod hit Baylor's Gage Upshaw for a winning 17-yard touchdown pass with 37 seconds left. Tyner's Shannon Spralls scored the first points of the game on a 92-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, and Elrod connected with Hunter's Adrian Thomas for a 79-yard TD opening the fourth. Ooltewah's Jeremiah Johnson had 12 tackles and recovered a fumble, and Baylor linebacker Ryan Parker was voted the defensive player of the game. Thomas was the offensive player of the game, and Upshaw caught five passes for 57 yards. Other area players contributing to the victory were Jeffery Coleman of East Hamilton, Hunter Chance of McCallie, Ulysses Strawter of Baylor and Rashun Freeman of Ooltewah.

Running

• The Market Street Miracle Mile this Saturday morning will kick off the second annual Run for Miracles for the Children's Hospital Foundation and the Chattanooga Track Club. The entry fee ranges from $10 to $15. In addition to one-mile competitive heats in which runners can try for age-group state records, there is a noncompetitive run for adults running or walking with their children or using strollers or wheelchairs. Children in grades 1-6 can use Saturday's race as the first leg of their 2012 marathon culminating at the Chickamauga Battlefield Marathon on Nov. 12. See www.runformiracles.org or email ali.dunn@erlanger.org or call 778-3989 with questions. Thursday is the deadline to register at www.active.com.

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