8-4A Region Final: Memphis Overton keeps rolling

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Memphis Overton's quest to Murfreesboro, TN is still in sight, as the Wolverines captured this season's TSSAA 8-4A Regional Tournament Championship, by defeating Memphis East, 63-53.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Wolverines will now host a sectional game on Monday night against Dickson County.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Here are 3&nbsp;highlights from the Wolverines' win over the Mustangs:</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Zone defense</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Memphis Overton sat in a 1-1-3 zone defense and forced Memphis East to be more of a half-court team, something it's not really comfortable in being. The Mustangs thrive more in transition, but the Wolverines took away&nbsp;the transition 3s and uncontested shots at the rim. As a result, Memphis East looked lost in half-court and for the most part, didn't have great ball movement.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Memphis Overton forced the Mustangs into bad shots from the perimeter. The zone worked as Memphis East missed a lot of shots from the perimeter.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Wolverines, for a short moment, went to a box-and-one to limit senior guard&nbsp;<strong>Jamarion</strong>&nbsp;<strong>Harvey</strong>, who was the primary&nbsp;reason the Mustangs weren't down double digits. Harvey, who finished with 18 points,&nbsp;scored nine points in the second quarter&nbsp;to erase a 13-point deficit. His fourth 3 came early in the third quarter to get his team within one.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>It still wasn't enough as junior forward&nbsp;<strong>Alijah</strong>&nbsp;<strong>Curry</strong>&nbsp;(11 points) wasn't as effective as he's been up to this point of the season.&nbsp;</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“We had two days to prepare for them. We are riding that 1-1-3 out for the rest of the season,” Memphis Overton's head coach&nbsp;Shelvie&nbsp;Rose said. “The game plan was to stop Alijah and contain Woodie ([player_tooltip player_id='1034559' first='Jamarion' last='Harvey']). That's pretty much what we did.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Frison</strong><strong>&nbsp;took over</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>When Memphis Overton needed its leader to lead,&nbsp;Frison&nbsp;did that. The senior point guard scored 18 of his 32 points in the second half. He did a great job of getting to the basket.&nbsp;Frison did a great job of finding his teammates. He was being vocal on the floor, displaying his leadership that has been evident since the start of the season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>“Jordan had just enough energy to pull through. He was sick all week,” Rose said. “We told him to sleep on the couch during periods. For him to lead us, we just told him to be the Mr. Basketball nominee that he is.”</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Composure&nbsp;</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Memphis Overton led most of the game, but trailed for a hot minute in the third quarter after Curry made a short jumper from 10-feet out. The Wolverines didn't panic as their once 13-point lead vanished. Memphis East, which has to travel to Rossview on Monday, picked up its defensive pressure in the second half, trying to force Memphis Overton into a lot of turnovers. Luckily, the Wolverines didn't have costly turnovers. Down the stretch, Memphis Overton took care of the basketball and made free throws to seal it.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Jailen</strong>&nbsp;<strong>Hardaway</strong>&nbsp;went 7 for 8 from the foul line, while&nbsp;Frison went 13 for 14 from the charity stripe.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>All-Region</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Brock</strong>&nbsp;<strong>Vice</strong>&nbsp;(Houston),&nbsp;<strong>Cameron</strong>&nbsp;<strong>Hudson</strong>&nbsp;(Memphis Central),&nbsp;<strong>Ronald</strong>&nbsp;<strong>Towns</strong>&nbsp;(Southwind),&nbsp;<strong>TJ</strong>&nbsp;<strong>McNeal</strong>&nbsp;(Collierville),&nbsp;<strong>Julius</strong> <strong>Thedford</strong>&nbsp;(Whitehaven),&nbsp;<strong>Christian</strong>&nbsp;<strong>Alston</strong>&nbsp;(Bartlett),&nbsp;<strong>LJ</strong> <strong>Hackman</strong>&nbsp;(Memphis East), <strong>Xavier</strong> <strong>Alexander</strong> (Memphis Overton) Curry, Hardaway, and&nbsp;Frison&nbsp;(MVP) were named to the All-Region Tournament Team.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->