8 most impactful players in Saturday’s Division II Boys State Tournament Championships
Saturday evening ended with Knoxville Catholic dethroning Briarcrest for this season’s Division II-AA Boys State Tournament Championship. Earlier in the day, Lausanne defeated FACS to win its third state title in Division II-A. The best players on the floor had…
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Continue ReadingSaturday evening ended with Knoxville Catholic dethroning Briarcrest for this season’s Division II-AA Boys State Tournament Championship.
Earlier in the day, Lausanne defeated FACS to win its third state title in Division II-A.
The best players on the floor had to impact the game somehow, if they wanted their teams to end the season hoisting the gold ball.
I was in Nashville for both boys’ state tournament championship games.
Here are the 8 most impactful players from both championship games:
Jalen Bo Montgomery, Lausanne: Montgomery made shots in the second half when the Lynx started to pull away from the Crusaders. The 6-foot-5 combo guard affected the game on both ends of the floor. He finished with 11 points, six rebounds, six assists, one block and one steal. He ends his career with two state titles. Montgomery was a freshman when Lausanne won it in 2017.
Moussa Cisse, Lausanne: The MVP of the tournament definitely made his presence felt on both ends of the floor. The 6-11 big man finished with 15 points, 10 rebounds and nine blocks.
Johnathan DeJurnett, Lausanne: The 6-8 big man led the Lynx with 16 points and had a couple of dunks in the second half when the game started to get away from FACS. Like Montgomery, DeJurnett also ends his high school basketball career with two state titles.
BJ Edwards, Knoxville Catholic: The sophomore point guard controlled the pace of the game and had only three turnovers. Edwards finished with 14 points, eight rebounds, four assists and one steal.
Pressley Patterson, Knoxville Catholic: Patterson made his presence felt on the offensive end. He made four 3s in the third quarter to give the Fighting Irish the momentum for the remainder of the game. Patterson is Knoxville Catholic’s best shooter. He led the team with 15 points on 5 of 8 shooting. All five of Patterson’s made field goals came from beyond the arc.
Kennedy Chandler, Briarcrest: Chandler played the entire 32 minutes and led the Saints in scoring with 13 points on 4 of 9 shooting. He also had five assists, one block and one steal.
Rodney Newsom, Briarcrest: The Memphis Tigers Football commit scored 10 of his 12 points in the first half and made 5 of 9 shots from the field for the game. He also had four rebounds in 21 minutes of action. Outside of Chandler, Newsom was the only other productive player for the Saints on the floor.
Akeem Odusipe, Knoxville Catholic: The 6-9 big man finished with nine points, 13 rebounds and two blocks. Odusipe contested a lot of shots in the paint. He went 3 of 6 from the field.
Division II-A All-Tournament Team:
Daniel Egbuniwe, Jayden Williams, Hayden Ledbetter, DeJurnett, Cisse and Montgomery were all named to the Division II-A All-Tournament Team. Cisse was named MVP.
Division II-AA All-Tournament Team:
Blue Cain, Marcellus Brigham Jr., Chandler, Edwards, Odusipe and Patterson were named to the Division II-AA All-Tournament Team. Edwards was named MVP.
Recruiting information: Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes was in attendance Saturday night inside Allen Arena to watch Edwards and Chandler. Both have been offered by the Vols.