MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – Chattanooga Prep made its first appearance at the Bluecross Basketball Championships last year and won their first game in only their second year as a varsity program.
They’re back for the second straight year and again, they won their opening game here at MTSU’s Murphy Center Wednesday evening in the first game of the Class A bracket.
Facing the Union City Golden Tornadoes in a game most folks thought was a match of the best two teams in the division, the Sentinels made it look easy as they scored 53 points in the second half alone en route to an impressive 85-53 victory.
The winners improve to 25-6 while Union City ends its season at 29-6 as a 17-game winning streak was snapped in the process.
Chattanooga Prep coach Christian Collins, who took over for his twin brother Cristofer at the start of the season, could only smile when talking about this latest win for his team.
“We’ve been in this situation before. They cut our lead to four at the half, but we were able to capitalize in the second half. We had a bit of foul trouble in the first half, but we can go 10 or 12 deep on our bench as I can depend on them when someone gets in foul trouble,” he said in his post-game comments.
“We are a defensive team, but we also have to play smart. We were a little bit anxious and nervous at the start, but the second half was a breeze after we settled down.
“We weren’t able to get the job done last year but these guys stayed focused. The feeling last year wasn’t great, so they’re focused on doing better this time around.
“We knew their pressure was coming and we also knew that Malaki Brooks was a great player and a Mr. Basketball nominee for a reason. He was outstanding and our hat’s off to him. Even when we had two and three players defending him, he still scored. But we just want to win again on Friday and see what happens from that point on,” he added.
Union City coach Shane Sisco certainly wasn’t pleased with the outcome.
“I’m really disappointed for our kids as we came into today’s game with a lot of confidence and our plan was to win another state championship,” he began.
“What happened was somewhat out of character for us, but that was just the start of bad things to come as it just sort of snowballed from there. It was an extremely physical game, but they shot it well and it’s tough to win when you give up 53 points in the second half.
“We got a huge momentum boost when we scored at the end of the first half to trail by just four at that point, but we weren’t able to ever get over the hump. We were never able to get consecutive stops as our team just didn’t play well, but they had a lot to do with it,” Sisco concluded.
Austin Jones bagged a 3 from the wing to begin the game as the Sentinels led from the start and never trailed. The difference was 13-4 following a 3 by Ta'Suade Williams with 3:05 left in the opening stanza. Ben Kail scored on a layup as the final seconds wound down to get the Golden Tornadoes with a point at 15-14 before De'Andre Turnbow sank two free throws for a 17-14 lead for the Sentinels at the first break.
Another 3 from the corner by Jones midway through the second period gave Prep its biggest lead of the half at 26-16 with 4:05 showing before Union City used a 12-2 run to get within four at 32-28 when the halftime horn sounded.
Jones hit back-to-back 3s to start the second half as Union City never got any closer than five. Joel Bulis scored on a putback at the end of the quarter to put the Sentinels up 62-46 with eight minutes to play.
Brooks finished with 37 points after scoring 18 in the first half, including a big 3 from the key at the buzzer to get his team within four at 32-28.
But the game got a bit more physical in the second half than the first and the Sentinels took full advantage.
Sinking 10 of 14 free throws in the third quarter alone, Prep was able to extend that halftime lead to 62-46 when the third stanza ended and the Golden Tornadoes never got any closer.
A total of 54 fouls were called – 25 on Union City and 29 on Prep – and that included five technical fouls as play and tempers got kind of dicey at times.
Bulis, a 6-6 sophomore who missed most of the season with an injury, came back during the region tournament and had one of his best games ever on Wednesday when he came off the bench to lead his team with 17 points in 17 minutes.
Williams and Jones both added 15 points for the winners while eighth grader Cadence Collins finished with nine.
Brooks was tops for Union City with his 37 points, but he didn’t have any help as teammate Kail was next with just seven.
The Sentinels had a great game shooting the basketball as they finished by making 25 of 40 shots from the field for 62.5 percent, including nine of 16 from long range for 56.3 percent.
Union City, on the other hand, made 14 of 41 shots from the field for 34.1 percent and just five of 23 from long range for 21.7 percent.
Prep also had a 27-22 edge in rebounds as Derrick Roberson grabbed nine. Kail was tops for his team with six.
UNION CITY 14 14 18 7 -- 53
CHATTANOOGA PREP 17 15 30 23 -- 85
UNION CITY (53) – Kail 7, Davis 3, Malaki Brooks 37, Tully 2, Lattus 2, Moss, Frankum, Jones, Gentry, Evans, Crawford 2, Monroe.
CHATTANOOGA PREP (85) – Ta’Suade Williams 15, Austin Jones 15, Gaines 7, Randolph 4, Roberson 6, Sutton 4, Collins 9, Turnbow 2, Pillows, Bowman 1, Parker 2, Koon 3, Joel Bulis 17, Birt.
3-Point Goals – Union City 5-23 (Kail, Brooks 4); Chattanooga Prep 9 of 16 (Williams, Jones 4, Gaines 2, Koon, Bulis).
(Email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)