Hoops: Columbia State lands pair of local commits in Carlton, Poore

After a season apart, Summit’s Tre Carlton and Centennial’s Isaiah Poore will reunite this fall on the basketball court at Columbia State Community College.

The pair of seniors and former teammates ended their high school careers in March on the hardwood and battled against one another after Carlton transferred last summer to Summit for his senior season.

The two announced their commitment to coach Winston Neal’s program at Columbia State Sunday night.

“It feels great and I think it’s a good opportunity for us,” said Poore, an explosive 5-foot-11 guard. “To play with Tre again, I think we left something out there. This is a good fit for us.”

Poore emerged as a go-to player for the Cougars this season, especially over the final seven games of the season without fellow leading scorer Dusty Williams in the lineup due to injury. Poore averaged 12.6 points, 4 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2 steals per game as a senior, including 18.6 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.5 assists over the final seven games.

Carlton led Summit to the Class AAA Sectional Round for the first time in the school’s young history collecting 15 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals per game this past season.

“We’ve been playing together since middle school,” said Carlton, also a 5-11 slashing guard. “It’s nice because he has the same focus as me. I can push him and he can push me. I think we can be pretty good together.”

Carlton and Poore began their playing careers at Freedom Middle School before taking the courts at Centennial.

“We have always been going at it,” Poore said. “We have always been competitive with each other.”

“We have some big shoes to fill (at CSCC), but I’m excited,” Carlton added.

The two split in head-to-head meetings this season. In Carlton’s return to Centennial in December, Poore’s Cougars earned a physical 70-61 victory, while Carlton returned the favor by helping the Spartans take a narrow 57-53 victory in Spring Hill at the end of January.

Summit went on to reach the Region 6-AAA championship game for the first time after bouncing back from a District 11-AAA semifinal setback. Centennial fell in the district quarterfinals against rival Franklin.

“The way they played one another, you might think they had some hard feelings out there,” Summit coach Jim Fey said. “But, they are actually really close. They wanted to play together and I think it’s a good opportunity for both of them at Columbia State.”

Fey, who took over the head coaching job at Summit in the summer as well, had two former players from his East Nashville coaching tenure help lead Columbia State into the National Junior College Athletic Association Basketball Championships for the first time since back-to-back appearances in 2014-15.

“Columbia State is a great place for these two to get a lot of experience,” Fey said.

The Chargers, who finished with a 23-10 record, won the Tennessee Community College Athletic Association title in overtime on March 3 with a 81-73 win over Jackson State in Columbia to reach the NJCAA Tournament. The championship tournament was cancelled due to the COVID-19 health crisis.