Why Fulton basketball won second straight TSSAA state championship starts with 'the standard'

MURFREESBORO – Jody Wright calls it, "the standard."

"What's the standard? The standard is the standard," the Fulton boys basketball coach said. "It takes what it takes. We answer all those things by again meeting the standard today."

Fulton's seniors knew the standard and what was expected of them the past four years as basketball players in the Knoxville school's program.

It helped the Falcons win the program's fifth TSSAA state championship under Wright's 38-year tenure and second consecutive after beating Memphis Ridgeway 68-47 Saturday night at Middle Tennessee State's Murphy Center in the Class 3A title game.

"The standard is high. The face has changed, but the expectation doesn't," Wright said. "Again, these guys did not blink.

"January is a grind, and it was tough. But I think January makes or breaks you. You cannot cheat January. You cannot cheat it and can't get it back. These guys attacked January every single day. Where January pays off is February and March."

Fulton (35-2) finished the season with 17 consecutive wins after a 69-67 loss to Austin-East on Jan. 13. The Falcons won their three state tournament games by a 16.7-point average, but won their semifinals and championship by 21.5 points.

Where 2024 TSSAA basketball championship ranks for Fulton

Fulton has won back-to-back championships twice under Wright. The program also won back-to-back titles in 2008 and 2009. Fulton teams have reached the championship round in six of the past 10 seasons.

"Fulton is the only school in Knoxville to go back-to-back (in boys)," Wright said. "And I think history will look rather kindly on this group."

The trio of Tyler Lee and twins Denaj and Taj Kimber were a big reason for that repeat.

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Lee was the Class 3A state tournament MVP for the second straight season after dropping 22 points on 10 of 17 shooting against the Roadrunners (27-6) in what was his best game of the tournament. Lee had 12 and 10 points respectively the first two games of the tournament for Fulton, which were wins over Fayette-Ware and Upperman.

"I was just focused on being aggressive (Saturday) because the last two games I was settling too much," said Lee, the Class 3A Mr. Basketball. "I was just focused on being aggressive and getting my team involved."

Denaj had two points, but added four assists against Ridgeway. And Taj had 13 points with seven rebounds and five assists. Add in senior Dexter Lewis' 10 points and nine rebounds and that's a glaring group to replace.

Wright, though, won't speculate what team is best. He compared the championships like children, saying it's impossible to pick which kids, or in this case championships, are better.

Taj, though, was ready to make his declaration.

"I just get two rings, really," he said. "Now you can put us in a category of which (team) is better. Both the teams, we had different style of plays and how we operated.

"I feel like my guys are best. But it's always a debate."