East Nashville hangs on to defeat Chattanooga Howard School in TSSAA Class AA quarterfinal

MURFREESBORO — Taras Cater went to the free-throw line with six seconds remaining and East Nashville leading Chattanooga Howard School by one in the Class AA state quarterfinals. 

The pressure was on Carter to make each free throw. The first one rimmed out. He also missed the second one. 

"Oh, man, it was like, 'Wow, I just missed that? I gotta get it back. I gotta find a way to make up for what I did.' And I did," Carter said. 

There was a scramble for the ball after Carter's second free-throw miss.

East Nashville's Michael Dowlen got the offensive rebound and kicked the ball out to Carter behind the 3-point line. Carter was fouled again with three seconds remaining and went back to the line. 

"The fact is, those were two clutch free throws, and we needed those to win the game," Carter said. "I knew when (Dowlen) got that second opportunity, I said, 'I gotta knock these down.'" 

Carter did, shaking his head after making the first one. 

East Nashville then made one more defensive stop as the Hustlin' Tigers could not get a shot off before time expired, and the Eagles won 78-75 on Wednesday at MTSU's Murphy Center.

East Nashville (27-6) will play Knoxville Fulton (27-4) at 10 a.m. Friday in a state semifinal. 

Carter finished with a game-high 20 points, with 14 in the second half. 

Eagles coach Jim Fey took a timeout after Carter made his two free throws. Howard had a final chance. The Hustlin' Tigers inbounded the ball and had to go the length of the court. 

They broke through East Nashville's defense, and Dewayne Lawry stood at the corner ready to launch the game-tying 3-pointer. The final seconds ticked off without the ball leaving his hand. 

He hit the shot after time expired. The Hustlin' Tigers crowd erupted, thinking the game was about to go to an extra period.  

"I thought they hit it. I thought we were going to overtime," said East Nashville wing Isaiah Jones, who finished with 19 points. 

The referees waved off the shot, and the game was over. 

It capped a fourth quarter in which the Eagles entered the final 10 minutes with a 10-point lead only to see the Hustlin' Tigers go on a furious rally to go up 66-65 at one point. 

"It was a great high school basketball game, and it obviously went down to the end," Fey said. "I'm glad that time ticked."

Reach Luis Torres at ltorres1@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @LFTorresIII.

TSSAA State tournament: Parking to be impacted around Murphy Center.

TSSAA State tournament: Best places to eat, including late-night options.

TSSAA State tournament: Boys schedule and pairings for the week.