MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Xavier Washington wasn’t perfect, but he was certainly close enough.
The Hillsboro senior guard connected on all five of his field-goal attempts — each one a 3-pointer — and was 5-of-6 at the free-throw line to help lead his team to a 63-48 win over Bradley Central in the TSSAA Class 4A boys’ semifinals Friday night at the BlueCross Basketball Championships.
“It is frustrating. The scouting report is that he’s a shooter, and we lost him five times,” said Bears coach Zach Carpenter, who guided Bradley Central to the program’s first state semifinal appearance since 2004. “That’s what shooters do, and tonight was his night. He didn’t miss.”
The Burros (33-5), who will play in the state title game for the first time since a runner-up finish in 1956, will face Oak Ridge (31-3) on Saturday night at Middle Tennessee State University’s Murphy Center. The Wildcats beat Whitehaven 59-53 in Friday’s second semifinal at the venue.
Hillsboro led throughout the first half against Bradley Central. But after racing out to an 11-point lead in the first five minutes of the opening quarter — by hitting seven of their first 10 shots from the field — and leading by as many as 12 points midway through the second quarter, the Burros were held without a field goal for nearly five minutes heading toward halftime.
That allowed the Bears (25-9) to go on a 10-0 run and cut their deficit to just three entering the break.
Bradley took short-lived one-point leads twice in the third quarter, but Hillsboro, which was 7-of-9 from the field in the period (including 3-of-4 on 3-pointers), ended the period on an 8-2 run — highlighted by consecutive treys by Washington in a 30-second span — to build its lead back to double digits.
From there, the Burros continued to methodically extend their lead and ultimately extended their winning streak to 20 games.
“The big thing is the trust from my teammates,” said Washington, who finished with 20 points. “We have a strong bond, and them trusting me to make those shots and giving me the opportunity meant a lot and helped boost my confidence to keep taking them.”
When the calendar flipped to the new year, the Bears were 6-6 overall, but they got rolling by winning the annual Times Free Press Best of Preps tournament — they beat eventual Class 2A state semifinalist Tyner in the title game at Chattanooga State — and Friday’s loss snapped a 14-game winning streak. Bradley Central’s last loss had been by 10 points on Jan. 21 to reigning Class 1A state champion Chattanooga Prep, which will attempt to repeat Saturday at MTSU.
“The legacy we leave, not being back here for about 20 years and we get to say we did it, that’s something we’re proud of,” said Bears guard Ramerian Taylor, one of four seniors in his team’s starting lineup.
Taylor finished with 13 points, while Tyrese Stovall led the Bears with 20 points and eight rebounds.
Hillsboro, which hasn’t been beaten by an in-state opponent since Dec. 6 and has earned 19 of its 20 consecutive wins by double figures, made a blistering 62% of its shots for the game.
“They’ve got a nice team,” Carpenter said. “They can hurt you in a lot of ways, at the rim and outside. They were able to get their shooters loose and find them when they needed them.
“We’ve been on an unbelievable run since January, and we fought hard tonight. We’re just sad it’s over.”
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com.