Are the Best 2 Junior PGs in East Tennessee?
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PICTURED: Ty Glasper Ty Glasper 6'1" | PG Gatlinburg-Pittman | 2025 State TN , Shane Cherry Shane Cherry 5'9" | PG Austin-East | 2025 State #353 Nation TN . East Tennessee is home to the best two ’25 point guards…
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Continue ReadingPICTURED: Ty Glasper Ty Glasper 6'1" | PG Gatlinburg-Pittman | 2025 State TN , Shane Cherry Shane Cherry 5'9" | PG Austin-East | 2025 State #353 Nation TN .
East Tennessee is home to the best two ’25 point guards in Tennessee!
Memphis raises better point guards per capita than any city in the country. Nashville is now the largest metro region in the state, filled with much-improved coaching at the youth level.
Shane Cherry Shane Cherry 5'9" | PG Austin-East | 2025 State #353 Nation TN | 27.2 ppg | 2.5 apg | 4.0 rpg |
Ty Glasper Ty Glasper 6'1" | PG Gatlinburg-Pittman | 2025 State TN | 28.8 ppg | 5.4 apg | 5.2 rpg |
East Tennessee did not even have a shoe-deal AAU program until Bobby Maze founded BMaze. It was founded in 2015 but earned Under Armour deal in 2017.
The junior class hosts a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence; the top two point guards reside near I-75.
Reintroducing Ty Glasper Ty Glasper 6'1" | PG Gatlinburg-Pittman | 2025 State TN and Shane Cherry Shane Cherry 5'9" | PG Austin-East | 2025 State #353 Nation TN .
“[ Ty Glasper Ty Glasper 6'1" | PG Gatlinburg-Pittman | 2025 State TN ‘s] work ethic is second to none on our team,” said Head Coach Moore. “He is going to be a leader. His consistency now is just something that you really can’t coach. It is something that you have to do on your own. He has got the full package.”
You could always tell Ty was serious about basketball early on.
“That is something…you can tell that they put a lot into it, and when I say I am talking about his siblings because they are all special. His sister that is a sophomore is going to be phenomenal. She was an All-Stater at Lakeway and they have two younger sisters in elementary school that are just as good. I would imagine that they spend a lot of time doing skill work, drill work because you don’t just show to the gym with those type of skills even if you are athletic.”
Before the season Coach Moore anticipated Shane Cherry Shane Cherry 5'9" | PG Austin-East | 2025 State #353 Nation TN , Glasper, and Jahvin Carter Jahvin Carter 6'2" | PG Alcoa | 2024 State #214 Nation TN would be three Mr. Basketball candidates. He even intimated they were likely to be the three finalists.
GP Head Coach Moore 11/23In my opinion, I don’t know if they would ever pick three kids from the eastern part of the state…but those three have to be the best three players in AA. I feel like anybody would have to agree with that, or at least have an argument for it.
Shane Cherry Shane Cherry 5'9" | PG Austin-East | 2025 State #353 Nation TN earned his first PrepHoopsTN shine way back in 2022, playing 17u for BMaze before his sophomore academic year.
Austin-East is a home where Shane could and can experiment offensively, creating without fear of a quick benching. Austin-East Head Coach Denard Bertram provides the guiding hand for Cherry.
“The first time I saw him play, I was coaching against him, and I was at another school, and he was a freshman and had 30 points on us, so I knew he was pretty good,” said Coach Bertram. “It didn’t take long to figure out that he is a special talent.”
Last season Austin-East finished 23-10, ending their season at White County High. Though Cherry scored 21 points his Roadrunners did not advance to the State Tournament. They are better this season, but still not assured of making that coveted March journey to Murfreesboro.
“He feels like as long as he has the ball in his hands we, as a team, have a better chance to score because he is going to see two or three sets of eyes [defending him] and that allows some guys to be open and make shots,” shared Coach Bertram.
“His feel for the game is actually really high, gets his teammates involved. A lot of times people look at it as he scores a lot of points, but in the right situations he has always done a good job of making the game-winning plays. He does those things well. Extremely quick. Handles the ball on a rope. He is electric.”
Shane the Closer
The junior owns a reputation for taking, and often making big shots. Three of the Roadrunners losses last year came to Fulton. Cherry and his mates got some retribution mid-January this season.
“Against Fulton he split the double teams, he goes in there [and] they have a guy that steps up, he dishes it off to our 5-man and he finished,” said Coach Bertram. “But going into that point he scored 12 straight points to get us back within range and then we went ahead on the play that he made.”
Austin-East faces Alcoa January 30th and still needs to play Oneida twice more.
Top 10 Point Guards (2025)
1. Shane Cherry Shane Cherry 5'9" | PG Austin-East | 2025 State #353 Nation TN
2. Ty Glasper Ty Glasper 6'1" | PG Gatlinburg-Pittman | 2025 State TN
3. Cortez Graham-Howard Cortez Graham-Howard 6'5" | PG Hillsboro | 2025 State TN 4. Arnett Hayes5. Tylan Lewis6. Tacarien Freeman7. KJ Neville8. Rodney Henderson9. Carter Webb10. Jacob Walker Jacob Walker 5'10" | PG FACS | 2025 State TN