Tyner boys’ basketball coach E’jay Ward shouts instructions to his players during their game against Notre Dame in the first round of the Best of Preps basketball tournament Thursday at Chattanooga State.Tyner’s boys and East Hamilton’s girls both finished third at the Times Free Press Best of Preps basketball tournament Saturday at Chattanooga State.
While Tyner coach E’Jay Ward was happy his Rams got the 63-57 victory over Brainerd to take third, he knows they have a lot of work to do to get to where they reallly want to be.
The Rams (11-3) took an 11-point lead into the fourth quarter but could never pull away from the rival Panthers (8-8), who turned up the defensive pressure to force a slew of turnovers in the final period.
Brainerd got to within two points on a Xiear Lattimore 3-pointer with just more than a minute remaining, but Tyner held on and won, which was the only positive Ward could find in the game.
“At least we were on the winning side of it,” Ward said. “We’ve got inexperienced guards, and at some point we have to grow up. The race for to maturity starts today, and I need guys to grow up real fast.”