Cookeville boys get first TSSAA basketball tournament win 70 years after only other appearance

MURFREESBORO − Cookeville's boys basketball players were used to postseason hype surrounding the girls program over recent years.

For the first time in 70 years the Cavaliers got to be on the other side of the state tournament sendoff, and it felt good flipping the script.

"It was great," said Cookeville junior guard Jaren Davis, who came off the bench to score 18 points in Wednesday's 70-60 win over Maryville in the TSSAA Class 4A state quarterfinals at MTSU's Murphy Center. "The atmosphere, the environment... so much support. There were a lot of teachers congratulating us at school."

The Cavaliers (31-3) advanced to the Class 4A semifinals where they play the Bartlett-Brentwood winner at 9:30 a.m. Friday.

The win is the program's first in a state tournament game. The 1954 Cookeville state tournament team lost to Lake City 65-52 in the first round, which included 16 teams in one classification.

The historic state tournament win wasn't lost on the city of Cookeville, who presented a sea of red with their red T-shirts on one side of Murphy Center.

"It was awesome," said Cookeville senior guard Bennett Reeves, who scored 10 points. "I've never see a city come out, show up like that. You could almost feel it. Even coming all the way to Murfreesboro, driving by people standing in the streets and on the sidewalks."

Cookeville basketball's Collin Ayers making up for lost time

Cookeville senior guard Colin Ayers could be one of the most underrated players in the tournament.

A big reason for that is him having missed all of last season with an injury. His 5-foot-11 frame isn't imposing either.

However, for anyone watching Cookeville, it doesn't take long for him to stick out or make an impact.

"I'm trying to prove myself again," said Ayers, who scored a team-high 19 points. People knew me locally and stuff when I was a freshman, but I sort of fell off. It's just the grind of every day, trying to get back up and showing up in games like this."

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Ayers had several mid-range pull-up jumpers that helped Cookeville answer when Maryville (26-8) would hit a big basket. He hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer just before halftime to give his squad a 41-39 lead after Maryville had scored with six seconds left.

"I knew it was over for them then," said a joking Cookeville coach Josh Heard, on the team's first 3-pointer of the game. "I knew (Ayers) would do it. He's done it before (including) the district championship. Great players know what needs to be done ... see it and get it done."