Jamichael Blair and Friday @PrepHoopsTN Defensive MVP’s

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>PICTURED: Jamichael Blair (Bearden)</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>We will be adding players throughout the night. </em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Game:</strong> Bearden (54) - Knox West (53)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Name:</strong> Jamichael Blair.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Fame:</strong> In overtime, former @PrepHoopsTN Combine All-Star <strong>Jamichael Blair </strong>airballed a 3 with his team down one point, 53-52 and fewer than 8 seconds on the clock. Who would have felt worse in the locker room postgame? Thankfully for the #3-seeded Bearden Bulldogs,<strong> Brody Smith</strong> came up with the miss among many reaching arms, missed, and then put it up and in for two. Bearden led 54-53 with 4.1 seconds left. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"What I am thinking is 'Get back, attack my man in transition,'" said Blair via phone call minutes after the win. "But then my man passed it to Kevin (Jack). I know Kevin likes to go left. I just timed my jump perfectly [and I blocked it]."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>West's <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1532563' first='Devyn' last='Martin']</strong> (All-District) accepted the inbounds pass and quickly delivered an outlet to <strong>Kevin Jack</strong>. The 6-foot-3 center, used his shoulder to battering-ram to the block. Rose to attempt a 3' layup.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>With his right hand, the left-handed Blair swatted a final attempt inches above Jack's release. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:image {"id":2352116,"sizeSlug":"large","linkDestination":"media"} --> <figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><a href="https://prephoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/02/Blair2-crop-550x362-1708131640-crop-503x330-1708131719.png"><img src="https://prephoops.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/02/Blair2-crop-550x362-1708131640-crop-503x330-1708131719.png?w=502" alt="" class="wp-image-2352116" /></a></figure> <!-- /wp:image --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>With 1.9 seconds left, <strong>Kevin Jack</strong> (#23 in white) dribbles baseline. <strong>Jamichael Blair</strong> (#24 in black) tracks back near three-point line.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Kevin is left-handed. And Jamichael knew that. He expected him to take the shot with his left, which he did.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"I was really confident I was going to get there," said Blair. "I had to get my angles right."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Blair needed to close 18' in the time it took Kevin Jack to dribble once and shoot because Blair was recovering from down the floor where he guarded the initial dribbler, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1532563' first='Devyn' last='Martin']</strong>.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"I thought Devyn was going to try the last shot, so really I had to focus on Devyn because he was their main player," said Blair.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Bearden will play for District Tournament Championship Tuesday in the same gymnasium. Blair, a junior, has never won a District Tournament.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"My 9th grade year we were the runner-up for State Championship, but we lost the District Championship to Farragut that year," said Blair.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline"><strong>More Defensive MVP's</strong></span></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Game: </strong>William Blount (65) - Maryville (52)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Name:</strong> Brett Cortez</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Fame:</strong> Defending Maryville, the District Champion, is tough. William Blount affixed Brett Cortez on their best scorer, [player_tooltip player_id='2358309' first='Jonathan' last='Woodlee'].</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2358309' first='Jonathan' last='Woodlee']</strong> (Maryville) earned District Co-MVP. Friday he was completely locked down by <strong>Brett Cortez</strong>, a senior athlete that missed his entire junior basketball season with a torn ACL.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Woodlee finished with 14 points, but scored at least 6 points in the fourth quarter after the game was out of reach.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Before the season William Blount Head Coach Kevin Windle predicted Cortez would enjoy a breakout season. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>While wheeling backwards, Cortez managed to collect and explode forward somehow and partially block a Woodlee floater. The sequence displayed tremendous balance and body awareness. It was the most impressive of an entire game of high-effort stops by Cortez. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Game: </strong>Rossview (70) - Clarksville (33)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Name:</strong> Quamond Linsey</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Fame:</strong> Facing historic power Clarksville High, Rossview High hit seemingly every shot and ran efficient offense while blanketing the Wildcats of CHS. Entering the game, <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1404547' first='Kellen' last='Howard']</strong> (PrepHoopsTN #185) was leading CHS in scoring at 16.0 ppg on 52.0% FG. Much of the game <strong>Quamond Linsey</strong> (Rossview) guarded him. Linsey used his quickness to keep close and Howard simply did not see shooting windows most of the night.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->