Fans couldn’t have asked for a much better high school basketball game Friday night inside Baylor’s old-school Duke Arena, which was flooded with a sea of home red and McCallie blue as the Chattanooga rivals met again.
JC Shulman buried McCallie’s 12th 3-pointer to provide a 46-all tie with seven minutes left to play. With an eight-point halftime lead gone, the Red Raiders answered right back. Cameron Sparks and Jack Shutters had putback baskets, followed by a steal and a tough finish at the rim by senior Evan Haynie to build a 52-46 lead with 5:32 left to play.
Sparks made two more big plays in the final two minutes to close out Baylor’s 54-52 victory in a Division II-AA East Region matchup. The physical sophomore dunked off an in-bounds play at the baseline and denied the Blue Tornado’s attempt at a tying alley-oop on an in-bounds play with .4 second left on the game clock, and the Red Raiders (11-5, 1-1) held on.
“Clemson head basketball coach Brad Brownell is a good friend of mine, and they are having a really good season,” Baylor coach Mark Price said. “He told me that every good team has a superpower. I really feel like the superpower of our team is the unity.