Staff Photo by Dan Henry / The Chattanooga Times Free Press- 2/27/15. 98732 Central High School’s Ryan Montgomery (11) dunks the ball over Loudon defenders during the Region 3-AA tournament at the Purple Pounders home court Friday, February 27, 2015.There will be plenty of post-Christmas gifts for area high school basketball fans as the 11th annual Times Free Press Best of Preps tournament begins Saturday. It includes the toughest, most accomplished field of teams in the history of the event.
The tournament, which tips off at 10 a.m. the day after Christmas, will feature three boys’ teams that had 20-plus wins last season, three that reached the TSSAA state tournament and three others that won district or region titles. Two of the girls’ teams also reached the state tournament, and four others either won district titles or had 18-plus win.
“This is the best field we’ve had for both brackets,” said Chattanooga State coach and assistant tournament director Jay Price. “As far as the quality of teams and individual players, this will give high school basketball fans in Chattanooga a reason to get excited and pack the gym every day.”
In each of the past three season that the tournament has been played at Chattanooga State, which seats around 2,000, it has been sold out for the evening sessions.
There will be eight games each day, four for each gender, with the semifinals and losers-bracket games on Monday, Dec. 28, and the championship and consolation games Dec. 29.
Coming into the tourney, the eight boys’ teams have a combined record of 44-13, including Central (7-0), Tyner (7-0), Arts & Sciences (8-1), McCallie (8-1) and East Hamilton (9-3) having particularly strong resumes so far. The girls’ teams come in having combined for 37 wins, with Arts & Sciences (7-1), Meigs County (8-1) and GPS (6-2) all looking to knock off three-time defending tournament champion Baylor, which is led by Vanderbilt signee Kaleigh Clemons.
Central’s boys will have a target on their back as the likely tourney favorites since they return plenty of experience from last year’s Class AA state-quarterfinal team. The Purple Pounders, who play a fast pace and have one of the most athletic teams in the area, have routinely drawn large crowds both at home and on the road in the early portion of this season. Versatile Ryan Montgomery averages 22 points and eight rebounds a game, and point guard Terron Hayes is averaging 15 points and six assists.
This will also be the first game that transfer McClendon Curtis (6-foot-7, 293) will be eligible to play for Central.
“I’m anxious to see how he fits into our system,” Central coach Rick Rogers said. “Hopefully he’ll give us that inside presence we need for rebounding and to make it tough to drive the middle on us defensively.
“I’ve never seen Chattanooga so excited about high school basketball. It’s really cool to see all the support at games, and that energy from big crowds is something the kids feed off of. This tournament is a really good way for a lot of us to prepare for the postseason tournaments. It’s a good measuring stick for all of us and a great way for basketball fans to see some really good talent.”
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.