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."
The Rams were led by Kobe Smith and Soloman Bridgeman, who had 20 points apiece. Brainerd had three players who scored in double figures: Trey Owten (14), Lattimore (13) and Ladarrium Freeman (12).
In the girls' third-place game, while much of the focus was on East Hamilton's Madison Hayes and the Lady Canes' offense, it was their suffocating defense that led to victory this time.
East Hamilton (11-7) held Baylor (8-7) to just 17 points in the first three quarters as the Lady Canes doubled up the Lady Red Raiders, 56-28. Hayes led the Lady Canes with 22 points, while her sister McKenna chipped in 14 and Elizia Leboo scored 10.
"For the three years that I've been here, we've hung our hat on our defense," East Hamilton coach Hunter Gremore said. "We're a pretty good defensive team when we want to be, when we don't give up easy buckets and stop penetration."
After taking a commanding 31-14 lead into the locker room at halftime, the Lady Canes doubled down on their defensive intensity in the third quarter, giving up just three points to the Lady Red Raiders to extend the lead to 28 on their way to victory.
Britt Barton led Baylor with 12 points.
McCallie 58, Ooltewah 44
McCallie held Ooltewah without a field goal in the fourth quarter as the Blue Tornado defeated Ooltewah for fifth place in the boys' bracket. Tanner Shulman led McCallie with 16 points and Eric Rivers had 15.
McCallie (10-4) had a nine-point lead after three quarters before clamping down on defense in the final period. Shulman hit four 3-pointers in the game, and the Blue Tornado went 5-of-7 on free throws down the stretch to secure the victory.
Ooltewah (9-6) was led by Jay Howard with 10 points.
Brainerd girls 47, Lakeview-Fort Oglethorpe 44
Kimia Carter had another monster game with 22 points as she led the Lady Panthers to victory and fifth place.
Tyreesha Sanders chipped in 12 for Brainerd (7-4).
Carter did most of her team's scoring in the first half, scoring 11 of the Lady Panthers' 17 points as they went into the locker room trailing by four. Her teammates, led by Sanders, stepped up to help in the final two quarters as the offense exploded for 30 points and a comeback victory.
LFO (5-10) was led by Macey Gregg, who had a game-high 24 points, and Malijah Williams with 14.
Notre Dame boys 39, Signal Mountain 37
The Fighting Irish scored 16 in the fourth quarter to overcome an eight-point deficit and finish seventh in the boys' bracket.
With his team down 31-23 headed into the final period, Notre Dame's Wesley Jones hit three of his four 3-pointers and the Irish (3-9) clamped down on defense, allowing just six points in the fourth.
Derwin Lewis led Notre Dame with 16 points in the game, while Jones had 14.
Drew Lowry was the high-scorer for Signal Mountain (7-13) with 10 points.
Notre Dame girls 52, GPS 41
The Lady Irish hit eight 3-pointers in the first half to build a commanding 33-17 halftime lead before cruising to victory and finishing seventh.
Kate Ford drained four from behind the arc to lead Notre Dame (9-9) with 18 points, while teammate MaKenzie Johnson chipped in 14.
GPS (6-7) was paced by Hannah Sanders with 12.
Contact Kevin Llewallyn at sports@timesfreepress.com.