NASHVILLE - With the TSSAA Division II-AA boys' basketball championship decided Saturday afternoon, Brentwood Academy repeating as champion with a resounding 74-42 win over McCallie School, Blue Tornado forward Jorden Sterling gently touched his right hand to his bloodied, broken nose.
"Head butt," Sterling said.
Asked if it had been difficult to shoot free throws following such a collision, Sterling said, "They called the foul on me."
Talk about adding insult to injury.
"I knew when (Darius) Garland hit that 26-footer off the break to open the game that we were in trouble," said McCallie coach John Shulman, whose team fell into a 10-0 hole and trailed 47-24 at halftime. "We just got beat by a great basketball team and a great basketball player (Garland)."
That great player finished with 30 points, seven rebounds and four assists, numbers certain to please the Dukes, Floridas, Baylors, Tennessees, Vanderbilts and Virginias of the world who are actively recruiting the junior point guard.
Camron Johnson and Tate Pierson scored 13 points each as the Eagles (30-2) toppled the Blue Tornado (27-8), who were led by junior guard Jr. Clay with 11 points, four rebounds and three steals and Mac Hunt with nine points.
"I did a lot for Steph Curry's career," Shulman said of his University of Tennessee at Chattanooga coaching days when Curry was playing for Davidson. "Now Garland can go to any college in America because of me."
Not that Shulman was around to see the end of the game inside Lipscomb University's Allen Arena. After telling his team at halftime that he wouldn't be around for the finish "if we continue not to fight," he wound up getting tossed anyway in the final period.
But despite the huge halftime deficit, the Tornado ran off the first 10 points of the third quarter to pull within 47-34, then missed a 3-pointer that would have sliced Brentwood Academy's lead to 10 points. Instead, by the end of the quarter the champs led 57-34 and any doubt about the winner was over.
"Probably the two best games we played all season were against McCallie," said winning coach Hubie Smith. "We're just quicker and faster. And Garland is as good a point guard as there is in the country."
Even in defeat, Shulman was similarly proud of his team, which had the most wins in school history.
"I've got 18 kids crying their eyes out right now," he said. "But I told them, 'Look what you've accomplished. Look what you've done. Against a team like Brentwood you've almost got to play perfect. We tried, but they're just really good.'"
And the Eagles are, but as Clay left the McCallie locker room, he said what you hope all high school players can say regardless of how their seasons end.
"This season is nothing but memories for us," he said. "This season was about making memories with my brothers."
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.