McCallie School is in the championship game tonight of the prestigious Arby's Classic in Bristol, Tenn.
Max Shulman scored 20 points and Mac Hunt and Jorden Starling added 15 and 11 in a 74-52 win Friday night over Wings Academy from the Bronx, N.Y., in which the Blue Tornado (15-1) led 52-22 at halftime. They will play tonight in the final against powerful Trinity from Louisville, Ky.
Previously in the 34th version of the long-renowned tournament, McCallie won 71-53 over Tabernacle Baptist from Freeport, Bahamas; 60-44 over the No. 2-ranked team in Wisconsin, Washington Park; and 73-56 over Florida's two-time defending Class 7A champion Blanche Ely from Pompano Beach, ranked 21st nationally by Max Preps.
Junior Clay had 21 points and Shulman and Seth Clark had 12 and 10 against the Florida power, after Clay and Shulman scored 18 and 16 against Tabernacle Baptist and Shulman, Clay and Hunt had 11, 10 and nine against Washington Park, which has two sophomores already with major college scholarship offers.
"We've got an unbelievable matchup (tonight) - they're phenonemal," McCallie coach John Shulman said. "But we've beaten a bunch of good teams and it's been an unbelievable experience. We're getting what we came before - playing good teams and a bunch of different styles."
The Blue Tornado won the Times Free Press Best of Preps tournament last week in Chattanooga and Coach Shulman said he thought his team could be a little tired, but he plays a lot of guys and they're spreading the work well.
"We're playing pretty good basketball, and we're playing unselfish and taking great shots," the coach said. "We're playing so unselfish and having a blast playing the game."
Trinity beat Buford from Georgia in the other semifinal.