Five times previously, Ricky Bowers has guided the Ensworth Tigers to a TSSAA Division II state basketball championship.
If the Nashville team can continue the dominance it displayed in going on the road to pound McCallie 56-42 inside the Blue Tornado's Student Activities Center on Saturday night, the Tigers just might hand Bowers his sixth hoops crown with Ensworth since he left Montgomery Bell Academy in 2002.
"We're playing with greater intensity," Bowers said after watching Keyshawn Lawrence lead the Tigers with 20 points and Lewis McDaniel back him with 15. "This team has come a long way. We're playing with a lot more confidence."
Ensworth certainly shot with confidence in advancing to Thursday's Division II-AA semifinals at Lipscomb University. The Tigers hit seven 3-pointers, including three straight in the first three minutes of the third quarter that put McCallie in a 29-15 hole it could never escape. But the Tigers somewhat dominated the whole game, outscoring the Blue Tornado in all four quarters after the teams had split their two regular-season games.
"We had to not turn the ball over, and we turned it over 10 times in the first half," said first-year McCallie coach Dave Conrady, whose team was led in scoring by sophomore Eric Rivers with 20 points and senior Anthony Watkins with 12. "That put us in a situation where we couldn't dictate the pace of the game."
The pace, or at least the scoring, was anything but fast at the start, Ensworth leading 7-4 after one quarter. But it was 20-11 in favor of the Tigers at halftime and 36-23 after three periods.
For McCallie, which counts 10 seniors on its roster, it was a bitter end to a season that had begun to show much promise after a 26-point win over archrival Baylor two weeks ago.
"It's hard," said Conrady, whose team finished 19-9. "They had tremendous success under (former) Coach (John) Shulman. We were asking them to some things they'd never done before."
"We didn't give them a lot of second-chance points, which is what they do best," Bowers said.
What Bowers always has done better than most is have his teams playing their best come tourney time. Once 11-9, the Tigers are now 20-10.
Said Conrady of their state-title chances: "If Ensworth plays like that, if they're hitting shots, they'll be tough to beat."
Contact Mark Wiedmer at mwiedmer@timesfreepress.com.