MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Brandon Herman’s philosophy on the basketball court is simple.
“Shooters shoot,” Herman explained of his approach to the game.
And while it was a struggle at times Wednesday, Herman’s motto helped him account for three key scoring sequences in the second half and lift Grace Academy to a 50-44 victory over Oliver Springs in the quarterfinals of the Class A state basketball tournament.
Herman, the Golden Eagles’ first Mr. Basketball finalist, struggled offensively for much of the game, making just one of his seven 3-point attempts. But his steal and layup midway through the third quarter put Grace ahead to stay and his 3-pointer one minute later extended the lead to five.
He sealed the win with another steal which led to a three-point play with just over two minutes remaining, giving Grace a seven-point lead.
“I don’t usually get frustrated when I miss shots,” said Herman, who finished with a game-high 23 points on 9-of-21 shooting. “Since my shot wasn’t falling much, I fell back on my defense and tried to create something there.”
Grace will play Memphis Westwood in Friday’s semifinals at 12:45 p.m. Westwood upset second-ranked Humboldt 68-50 Wednesday.
GRACE ACADEMY 50, OLIVER SPRINGS 44Oliver Springs 7 15 12 10 — 44Grace Academy 16 7 15 12 — 50Oliver Springs (44) — Lucas Tarver 10, Miller 5, Eskridge, Harper 7, Wesley Rather 15, M. Taylor, Crisp, McBee, Sweet 2, J. Taylor, Romero 5.Grace Academy (50) — Rector 7, Church 2, Taylor Wilson 11, Nelson 7, Brandon Herman 23, Schley, Ruebusch, Carter, McMasters.3-point goals: Oliver Springs 2 (Tarver, Rather); Grace Academy 3 (Wilson, Nelson, Herman). Records: Grace Academy 23-7; Oliver Springs 22-11.
The Golden Eagles closed the first quarter on a 12-0 run to build a nine-point advantage, but the Bobcats rallied early in the second quarter, scoring eight unanswered points in the first two minutes.
From that point on there were four ties and Grace never led by more than four until Herman’s 3-pointer with 4:38 remaining.
“The game seemed like it was in slow motion mostly,” Grace coach Jon Mattheiss said. “We tried to do too much one-on-one at times, and that usually results in a few guys just standing around watching.
“But we’ve got some quick players and we made some thing happen defensively that got us a couple of scoring runs going.”
Taylor Wilson added 11 points for the Golden Eagles, scoring nine of those in the first half.