MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Overwhelmed by the atmosphere at last year's state tournament, Brainerd's boys' basketball team looked right at home on the Murphy Center court for Thursday's Class AA quarterfinals at Middle Tennessee State University.
Just how comfortable were the Panthers?
Early in the game, as he made his way back onto the floor after a timeout, Brainerd junior Vesta Melvin was singing along to the music blaring over the public address system, and several times everyone on the Brainerd bench jumped to their feet after a big shot or thunderous dunk.
And just like that, a year after losing by double figures in the opening round of state, Brainerd administered its own thumping with a resounding 76-52 win over Christian Academy of Knoxville that moves the Panthers into today's semifinals.
"That was the difference, just how relaxed and confident we were this time around," said Brainerd coach Levar Brown, whose team improved to 29-5. "We were very unhappy with the feeling we left with last year when CPA (Christ Presbyterian Academy of Nashville) showed us how you're supposed to play at this level.
"This time we spent time being a family first. We came up and watched some games yesterday, just to relax and get used to the surroundings again before we went to practice. I told the guys we can't play for it all on Saturday unless we win on Thursday, so this is just one game down."
Brainerd will face Whites Creek (22-11) - which won 100-76 against Westview (27-4) in Thursday's last quarterfinal - tonight at 7 EDT.
The Panthers are one win from becoming the first boys' basketball team from Hamilton County to play for a state title in a classification higher than Class A since the 1997 Brainerd team lost to Cleveland. The last area team for play for anything other than a Class A crown was Bradley Central in 2003, which fell in the AAA title game.
The Panthers kept the pace of Thursday's game to their liking, making sure to force the Warriors (23-11) to run more than they wanted to. After a Malik Beavers layup put the Panthers ahead 10-9 early, they maintained the lead the rest of the way.
"The pressure is tough," CAK coach Shane Wells said. "You can try to simulate it in practice, but that's really difficult to do because you can't match their quickness until you actually see it. They did a nice job of speeding up the game and taking our shooters out of rhythm. We rushed a lot of shots."
Brainerd forced 11 first-half turnovers, built its lead to nine by halftime and continued to steadily pull away in the second half. The Warriors had reached the state tournament for the first time in program history on the strength of their 3-point shooting, but they were just 6-of-26 against Brainerd.
With the Panthers swarming to get a hand in the face of CAK shooters, the Warriors shot 23.5 percent from the floor in the second half, while Brainerd made good on 54 percent of its shots, many of those easy layups created by turnovers. The Panthers finished with 13 steals.
"Our kids thrive on playing defense, they love it," Brown said. "I was actually a little worried that we were too loose coming into the game, but Kentrell (Evans) kept telling me, 'It's our season, Coach. It's our time. Relax.' I trust him and tried to calm down."
Evans finished with 14 points, six assists and four steals, while Dajuonta Ross led Brainerd with 22 points and seven rebounds.
"They were quicker than they looked on film, so we had to adjust and pick up the pace even more early on," Evans said. "It wasn't much fun being on the wrong end of taking that blow last year. This was a lot more fun."
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.