MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — The seemingly endless championship dry spell for boys’ basketball programs at Hamilton County public high schools will continue for at least one more season.
Although Brainerd refused to go away, ultimately the Panthers simply could not overcome a devastating second-quarter run by Alcoa, which held off multiple second-half rallies to win 71-68 in a TSSAA Class 2A semifinal Friday evening at Middle Tennessee State University.
The Panthers’ loss at the Murphy Center came just hours after Chattanooga Prep was ousted in the Class 1A semifinals on the same court at the BlueCross Basketball State Championships.
Brainerd is the most recent Hamilton County public school to win a boys’ basketball state title, doing so in 1992. In the 31 years since, the Panthers (1995, 1997, 2016) and Arts & Sciences (2007) are the county’s only public schools to even reach a title game — with each of those teams finishing as runners-up.
“We’ve got the best kids in the state,” Panthers coach Levar Brown said. “Our kids go through so much adversity off the court that basketball is easy. They’re built for tough moments. Our kids have character, and they were prepared for this opportunity.