3A Sectional: Fayette Ware protects home court
Fayette Ware protected home court Monday night by defeating Munford, 76-58, to advance to the quarterfinals round of the TSSAA Division I Class 3A Boys’ State Tournament. The Wildcats will play defending champ Knoxville Fulton next Thursday night. Here are…
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Continue ReadingFayette Ware protected home court Monday night by defeating Munford, 76-58, to advance to the quarterfinals round of the TSSAA Division I Class 3A Boys’ State Tournament. The Wildcats will play defending champ Knoxville Fulton next Thursday night.
Here are 3 observations from Fayette Ware’s win over the Cougars:
Setting the tone early
The Wildcats jumped out to an early 14-4 lead in the first quarter, thanks to a 3-point play by freshman guard Elijah Lowe. Fayette Ware came out with positive energy on both ends of the floor. The Wildcats had great ball movement, displayed great communication, and played with fire from the opening tip. For a short moment, Munford made things interesting, cutting its deficit to eight after senior Jordan Bell split free throws. Fayette Ware quickly went back up double-digits after Tarecous Stevens banked in a 3 from the left wing as time expired.
The home crowd went crazy, as the Wildcats had full control of the contest.
“Since the regional championship to now, we just focused on picking up the shooters before they get across half court, so, that way, they wouldn’t get comfortable,” Fayette Ware’s head coach Demarius Chearis said. “We knew they were going to make a couple of 3s. We knew with a shooter like Murray (Norman) and a kid like JaDyn (Lee), those are great kids, and they’re great basketball players.
”With players like that, we know that they’re going to make some baskets, but if we do our job, pick them up early, which was the plan, we knew we could make something happen.”
Limiting Lee
Junior guard JaDyn Lee has been one of the best players for Munford this season. His ability to make shots from different areas on the court was going to be a challenge for the Wildcats. Lee loves to drive into the paint, which was an area the Wildcats needed to take away and force the Cougars to go another route offensively. Lee wasn’t quite effective Monday night, finishing with just three points.
”We focused on three things this week at practice. Don’t let the shooters get comfortable, which are Eli Patrick, Murray, and JaDyn. We did that,” Chearis said. “We wanted to keep JaDyn out of the lane as much as possible, because the deeper you get, the more you break the defense down. We did that. We also wanted to limit their second-chance points. We did a great job of doing that. We boxed out hard. We kept their guys off the offensive boards.
”We did a great job of that tonight.”
Getting over the hump
Junior guard Tacarien Freeman played with a sense of urgency, knowing it was a win-or-go home situation. Just a season ago, Freeman was on the losing end of a sectional game at Haywood. In 2023, Freeman ended up on the positive side. Just like last season, the 6-foot-0 guard was energetic on both ends of the court, communicating, attacking the basket, and taking quality shots from the perimeter. Freeman scored 10 of his 12 points in the first half and gave 100 percent effort on each possession.
”If he comes out on fire, it makes it easier for Jeremiah (Hayes) and Eric (Jones). If he comes out and he’s aggressive, you’re going to have trouble with guards like Eric and Jeremiah, because now we got that third piece scoring,” Chearis said. “Tarecous (Stevens) stepped up, probably had a double-double tonight. When we want him to be aggressive, we expand to a different type of team.”
Hayes led the team with 16 points. Stevens had 13. Jones added 10.
The Class 3A bracket is complete. All of the games will take place next Thursday at the Murphy Center on the campus of Middle Tennessee State University.