NEW TAZEWELL, Tenn. – The Tennessee High boys basketball team punched its ticket to the sectional tournament for the first time since the late Dale Burns’ Vikings upset Science Hill 52-43 in double overtime in the 2005 Region 1-AAA championship game.
Colin Brown scored 23 points, including the game-winning bucket with 18.6 seconds to go, and Reed Miller had a key steal and a 3-pointer in the final 80 seconds as the Vikings rallied past District 2-AAA champion Greeneville for a 57-56 victory in the Region 1 semifinals Tuesday night at Claiborne High School.
Tennessee High (18-15) plays David Crockett (26-6) on Thursday at 7 p.m. in the championship, which has been moved to Unicoi County. Crockett defeated Unicoi County, 62-56, in the opening semifinal on Tuesday.
Tennessee High looked like it might be waiting at least another year for a sectional berth when 6-foot-8 sophomore Trey Thompson jab-stepped his way to a 3-pointer from the top of the key to give Greeneville a 45-37 lead with 2:10 left in the third quarter.
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But the Vikings fought back to within a point six times and finally broke through on Brown’s driving game-winner. Miller was the initial option on the set.
“I was supposed to be kind of a decoy … and he was gonna slip and lay it up,” said Brown, who scored a game-high 23 points after scoring a school-record 54 points in the quarterfinals on Saturday. “But they played me on my backside. So I could get to the rim very easily – and I just had to finish.”
Brown finished time and again down the stretch, scoring 16 points in the second half, including 10 in the final 6:49.
“Colin just took over,” Tennessee High coach Michael McMeans said. “I mean, he just absolutely took the game over, and he was not gonna let us lose. That’s who he is. He’s the best player in Northeast Tennessee. He scored 54 in the first game. He took this game completely over.”
If Brown was Jordan, Miller was Scottie Pippen. Greeneville took a 56-52 lead on a Hayden Goad 3-pointer with 2:03 remaining, but Miller answered with a trey from the right wing to get the Vikings within a point with 1:21 to go.
And with Greeneville trailing 57-56 and coming out of a timeout for an inbounds play in the frontcourt with 9.2 seconds left, Miller intercepted the inbounds pass. Greeneville fouled him, but had to commit three more to put the Vikings on the foul line with 2.3 seconds to go.
Miller missed the free throws, but J.D. Woolsey’s desperation 60-footer at the buzzer hit nothing but rafters.
Miller’s steal would’ve received a lot of votes for play of the game. And his 3-pointer with 81 seconds remaining almost felt like a do-or-die deal with the Vikes staring at a four-point deficit.
“That’s a big-time shot by a sophomore right there,” said McMeans, who was pleased to see Miller gamble for the critical steal. “We knew we had four fouls to give. So we told ‘em to go try and steal it. That was our plan.
“We weren’t gonna let Thompson catch it. We said, ‘Hey, somebody go try to steal it. If you foul ‘em, that’s good. We’ve got three more to give.’ And he just went and made a play.”
Miller finished with 17 points and sophomore Braden Howard scored 12 points. Howard had eight in the third quarter thanks to a pair of treys and a contested pull-up from the left elbow that cut Greeneville’s lead to 45-42 with 17 seconds left in the third quarter.
“He’s not scared of a thing,” McMeans said. “That kid wants the ball in his hands. … This time next year, everybody will know who Braden Howard is.”
Everyone already knows Thompson, a sophomore manchild that led Greeneville with 21 points. Thompson earned his points.
“Listen, that kid’s a load. He’s 6-foot-8,” McMeans said. “He’s gonna get his shot off. But Jack Singleton, Colby Lamb and Micah Norton did a heck of a job on him. They made him work for everything.
“He got loose there for three or four minutes and hit a bunch of shots, but we knew that was coming at some point. But those guys made him work for everything he got.”
Guard Isaac McGill scored 18 points for the Greene Devils, whose coach, Brad Woolsey, was quick to credit the Vikings.
“(Brown and Miller) both hit big shots,” Woolsey said. “Brown’s gonna dribble around until he finds a hole, and then he goes and finishes or he’ll find somebody. He did a great job.
“And of course 20 (Miller) – that three at the end was huge, you know. We were up four, feel good and he ends up knocking that three down.”
Tennessee High will play Crockett for the fourth time since Feb. 6.
In Tuesday’s opener, Bradley Gouge tallied 15 points and 14 rebounds for David Crockett. Reagan Cash (14 points, nine rebounds), Brody McGuire (13) and Drake Shingledecker (11 points) also scored in double figures.
Jackson Simmons scored 21 points for Unicoi County, which got 12 points from Koda Cutlip and 10 from Mason Hensley.
Crockett beat Tennessee High in the final regular season league game for a share of the Upper Lakes Conference title and defeated the Vikings in the district tournament championship game, 68-63, on Feb. 20 – also at Unicoi County.
“Whoever’s tougher is gonna win that game,” McMeans said. “We want to host a substate (sectional) game on Monday night.”
TENNESSEE HIGH (57)
Howard 4 2-2 12, Brown 10 3-4 23, Phillips 1 0-0 3, Lamb 0 0-0 0, Graham 1 0-0 2, Singleton 0 0-0 0, Miller 8 0-3 17, Norton 0 0-0 0. Totals 24 5-9 57
GREENEVILLE (56)
Goad 3 0-0 8, Woolsey 0 0-0 0, McGill 7 2-4 18, Anderson 1 0-2 2, Thomas 2 0-1 4, Thompson 7 5-6 21, Tweed 1 0-0 3, Mills 0 0-0 0. Totals 21 7-13 56
Tennessee High 11 14 17 15 – 57
Greeneville 15 18 12 11 – 56
3-point goals— Tennessee High 4 (Howard 2, Phillips 1, Miller 1), Greeneville 7 (Goad 2, McGill 2, Thompson 2, Tweed 1)
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UNICOI COUNTY (56)
Ka. Cutlip 3 0-0 8, Ko. Cutlip 4 3-4 12, Hensley 5 0-0 10, Rodriguez 0 0-0 0, Sellars 2 0-0 5, Simmons 8 4-4 21, C. Simmons 0 0-0 0, B. Simmons 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 7-8 56
DAVID CROCKETT (62)
McGuire 4 2-2 13, Hensley 0 0-0 0, B. Gouge 5 3-4 15, C. Gouge 0 0-0 0, Shingledecker 4 2-4 11, Beason 3 1-2 7, Fox 0 2-2 2, Reagan Cash 6 2-2 14. Totals 22 12-16 62
Unicoi County 11 14 21 10 – 56
David Crockett 19 12 21 10 – 62
3-point goals—Unicoi 5 (Ka. Cutlip 2, Ko. Cutlip 1, J. Simmons 1, Sellars 1), Crockett 6 (McGuire 3, B. Gouge 2, Shingledecker 1)