Four Chattanooga area players are among those selected to the Tennessee Sports Writers Association's boys' basketball all-state team. Those four are Cleveland's JaCobi Wood and Bradley Central's Quante Berry in Class AAA, and Baylor's Nick Kurtz and McCallie's Eric Rivers in Division II-AA.
Wood, a Belmont University signee who became the Blue Raiders second Mr. Basketball award winner, led the state's top-ranked team to a program-best 29-0 start to the season by averaging 28 points, 5 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 2.7 steals.
Before the season was cut short by COVID-19, Cleveland (33-1) was the only area team remaining in the state tournament, which never got started.
Staff photo by Troy Stolt / Cleveland's JaCobi Wood (10) drives toward the basket during the boys basketball game between Cleveland and East Hamilton at East Hamilton high school on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2020 in Chattanooga, Tenn..Berry, only a sophomore, averaged 16.6 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.6 steals for the Bears, who were the only team to defeat Cleveland during the season, doing so in the District 5-AAA tournament championship.
Kurtz averaged 19 points and 9.3 rebounds in the post for the Red Raiders, who advanced to their second straight D-II AA state tournament semifinal round. Rivers, the Blue Tornado point guard, averaged 20 points, 5 assists, 5 rebounds and 4 steals.
Contact Stephen Hargis at shargis@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6293. Follow him on Twitter @StephenHargis.
TSWA Boys basketball all-state
Class AAAJaCobi Wood (Cleveland), Quante Berry (Bradley Central), Joe Anderson (Maryville), Will Pruitt (Mt. Juliet), Kavion McClain (Whitehaven), Alden Applewhite (Germantown Houston), Brandon Miller (Cane Ridge), Reed Kemp (Franklin), JP Pegues (Hillsboro), Grant Slatten (White County), Jonathan Milloway (Oak Ridge), Wes Maples (Sevier County), Kendrick Holland (South-Doyle), Duane Posey (Memphis East), Micah Simpson (Morristown East).Class AAEdward Lacey (Fulton), Johnathan Lawson (Wooddale), Tyrone Marshall (Pearl-Cohn), Marcus Fitzgerald Jr. (Pearl-Cohn), Jaylen Jones (East Nashville), Alex Rush (Upperman), Dylan Bartley (Sullivan East), Ty Hurst (Carter), Ben Diamond (Sullivan South), Nico Ashley (Elizabethton), Trey Morrow (Scott High), Reid Satterfield (Greeneville), Jon Turner (South Gibson), Brandon Maclin (Jackson South Side), J.J. Johnson (Jackson South Side).Class ALucas King (McKenzie), Dalton Marsh (Red Boiling Springs), Ryley McClaran (Eagleville), David Dixon (Memphis Academy of Health Sciences), Charterio Porter (Booker T. Washington), Zach Amonett (Pickett County), Taylor Groves (East Robertson), Amauri Young (Loretto), Peyton West (Monterey), Ben McMillan (Union City), Trey Johnson (Cosby), Nate Brackett (Rockwood), Nathan Bowling (Oneida), James Anderson (Madison Academic), Kaleb Meredith (University School-Johnson City).Division II-AAlex Anderson (Tipton-Rosemark), Moussa Cisse (Lausanne Collegiate), Dante Harris (Lakeway Christian), Jalen Montgomery (Lausanne Collegiate), Luke Burnett (Knox Webb), Kam Jones (Evangelical Christian), B.J. Marable (Grace Christian Academy-Knoxville), JJ Platt (Webb School-Bell Buckle), P’Jay Smith (Goodpasture), Mason McKnatt (Grace Christian Academy-Franklin).Division II-AAEric Rivers (McCallie School), Nick Kurtz (Baylor), Kennedy Chandler (Briarcrest Christian), B.J. Edwards (Knox Catholic), Chaz Lanier (Ensworth), Marcellus Brigham (Briarcrest Christian), Chandler Jackson (Christian Brothers), Akeem Odusipe (Knox Catholic), Luke Gdowski (Father Ryan), Will Montana (Montgomery Bell Academy).