Sophomores Elevating in Tense Times
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Playoff games reveal greatness, almost always from senior hoopers. Rarely does a freshman or sophomore decide a game. Kennedy Chandler did during his freshman year at Briarcrest Christian. Keon Johnson was a star as a sophomore. Darius Garland and Cam…
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Continue ReadingPlayoff games reveal greatness, almost always from senior hoopers. Rarely does a freshman or sophomore decide a game. Kennedy Chandler did during his freshman year at Briarcrest Christian. Keon Johnson was a star as a sophomore. Darius Garland and Cam Johnson dominated older players before they learned to drive. The sophomores featured within belong in the same class of blossoming stars.
Shane Cherry Shane Cherry 5'9" | PG Austin-East | 2025 State #353 Nation TN (Austin-East) was electric over the 2022 summer, and @PrepHoopsTN Top 10 ranking revealed his deserved reputation outpaced his peers. BMaze ran Cherry with their 17u team, two years beyond his natural classification of 15u, at the time. Austin-East leans heavily upon him. They let him shoot as much as he could all season. Nobody is faster end-to-end. The quickest hands. The quickest feet.
Jacob Amonett Jacob Amonett 6'0" | PG Pickett County | 2025 State TN (Pickett County) muscled a 4-0 run when the Bobcats needed it most at Chattanooga Prep. He first attacked the center Joel Bulis, and then slipped a sneaky pass to the opposing low block for his teammate to finish an easy layup. Jacob is not the common sophomore, in that he is the team’s leading scorer and go-to player. JA handles the ball most of the time too. He hit two technical free throws for his team midway through the third quarter, as well.
Tripp Pinion (White County)
The White County Spartans start four seniors and a fresh-faced dual-sport sophomore named Tripp Pinion. Unabashed. Brave with the ball. Tripp Pinion earned Regional Tournament MVP with 20 points in the Regional Championship Game. The Spartans won the event for the first time in 8 years.
Zeus Sanders misses. Trip Pinion rebound. pic.twitter.com/EJRFKgkw0K
— Prep Hoops Tennessee (@PrepHoopsTN) March 7, 2023
Pinion finished of an and-1 to pen the second quarter against Austin-East in the Sub-State war.
Ty Glasper Ty Glasper 6'1" | PG Gatlinburg-Pittman | 2025 State TN (Gatlinburg-Pittman) scored five first quarter points for GP on the road at Brainerd. Brainerd is the type of team that can ambush you, so his steadiness certainly helped the Highlanders hover at the outset and into the halftime break. His team did ultimately loss despite his 27 points.