McCallie defenders block any chance of Van Buren's Jared Binkley getting a shot off in the paint during the 5:30 semi-final game Friday afternoon in the Best of Preps tournament at Chattanooga State.McCallie put in a little overtime Friday in getting to the championship game at the Times Free Press Best of Preps basketball tournament.
Not on the court at Chattanooga State, though, where the focused Blue Tornado took apart Van Buren County 75-42 to win the evening's first boys' semifinal. The extra work came hours earlier, when the previous night's subpar showing in a first-round win over Notre Dame led to an impromptu video study.
"We didn't take a lot of pride last night in our effort," said McCallie coach John Shulman, whose team will play Baylor for the title at 8:30 tonight. "Notre Dame outplayed us, outcoached us, everything, so we had a come-to-Jesus meeting last night and we met today at 2:30 and had a long and honest film session.
"So this game was won at 2:30 when the guys really bought into watching film and buying into their own mistakes. We got back into defending people today instead of worrying about offense all the time."
McCallie (14-0) shined on both ends of the court Friday against the Eagles (12-3), producing balanced scoring - Jr. Clay, Mac Hunt and Jorden Starling each had 14 points - and a strong defensive performance that generated 20 turnovers and held high-scoring Van Buren wing Caden Mills to 15 points. Mills had 41 in an overtime win against Tyner on Thursday.
Clay led the defensive surge with six steals and ran the McCallie offense to perfection early, assisting on a pair of Starling layups and getting a steal and layup for a quick 9-3 lead. Hunt then hit the first of his four 3-pointers, and Clay closed out the period with a trey of his own as the lead grew to 24-9.
"This tournament means a lot to us because we don't get to play in Chattanooga that much," Hunt said. "It also means a lot to our fans for us to be here. We had a better game defensively today, and we had to because they have a really good player in Caden Mills. Offensively, we let the game come to us instead of forcing things."
The lead grew to 20 on a Starling dunk off another fancy dish from Clay with five minutes to go in the half, but the Eagles got six quick points from Sawyer Shockley and Mills to spark a 10-0 run that got the Tornado's attention.
Clay hit a 3-pointer at the half's buzzer, and McCallie opened the third quarter on a 7-0 run, with Hunt getting five. He soon added another 3-pointer, Clay had a hard drive for a three-point play and the advantage quickly grew to more than 25 points. Reserves for both teams played the final period.
Shulman, obviously pleased with the improved play, was especially happy with the defensive containment of Mills.
"We didn't start the game by pressing, and we always press," Shulman said. "We put our best defender on him, Trip Butler, and we wanted to keep him off the foul line, which we didn't do a very good job of early. When you score 40 or 50 points in a game, you are going to get to the foul line, and we did a much better job of defending him without fouling in the second half."
Van Buren will take on Brainerd for third place at 5:30 p.m. today.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6296. Follow him on Twitter @youngsports22.