Nashville’s Best Returning 2A Players

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The 2023-2024 season is so last week. Fix your gaze on the future of hoop in Nashville. The 2A division is routinely the strongest when the postseason arrives with East Nashville and Pearl-Cohn routinely battling for a spot in the State Tournament and Whites Creek returning in 2024 after mowing down District 7 in the regular season.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Whites Creek advanced to the State Tournament in 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2024. They captured the District 7 Championship and claimed the Region 4 Championship.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>This story will focus on the best returning players in Region 4-2A, Nashville's 2A region.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Region 4</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline">District 7</span></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>East Nashville Magnet School (Nashville, TN)<br>KIPP Nashville Collegiate School (Nashville, TN)<br>RePublic High School (Nashville, TN)<br>Stratford High School (Nashville, TN)<br>Whites Creek High School (Whites Creek, TN)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline">District 8</span></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Independence Academy High School (Antioch, TN)<br>LEAD Academy (Nashville, TN)<br>Pearl Cohn High School (Nashville, TN)<br>STEM Prep Academy (Nashville, TN)</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading">Top Returning Players</h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Corez Murphy -- East Nashville -- 2026<br>JR Graham -- East Nashville -- 2026<br>Je'von Carter -- East Nashville -- 2026<br>Jaylan McMillian -- East Nashville -- 2026<br>Kevin Wiggins - Whites Creek -- 2025<br>[player_tooltip player_id='2116000' first='AJ' last='Petway'] -- LEAD -- 2025<br>[player_tooltip player_id='2194514' first='Noah' last='Hughes'] -- Whites Creek -- 2025<br>[player_tooltip player_id='2077813' first='Eric' last='Bryson Jr.'] -- Whites Creek -- 2026<br>[player_tooltip player_id='2046290' first='Isaiah' last='Eubanks'] -- Whites Creek -- 2025<br>Malachi Benton -- Whites Creek -- 2026<br>Brian Jones -- Pearl-Cohn -- 2025<br>Ladamion Hunter -- Pearl-Cohn -- 2026<br></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Stratford, RePublic, STEM Prep, and Independence Academy delivered largely uncompetitive teams in 2023-2024. RePublic's leading scorer <strong>Rasco Colin</strong> graduates this spring, so they lose him.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>A.J. Petway</strong> (LEAD Academy) earned an assortment of awards.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>All-District <br>All-Tournament Team <br>All-Region Tournament Team <br>Mr. Basketball Nominee <br>Thanksgiving MVP </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Petway amassed fantastic statistics during his junior season. These were his final stats: 17.8 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 5.7 APG, 3.0 SPG, 43% FG.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Jaylan McMillian</strong> and <strong>Je'von Carter</strong> both shot the basketball quite well from behind the three-point line, according to East Nashville Head Coach Avery Patton. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"[Jaylan] was doing a lot of the dirty work," said Coach Patton. "Next year he will need to score more, but he was great defensively. He came a long way [in the last 12 months]. He wasn't even supposed to be on varsity. He wasn't even on the chart to be on varsity. His freshman year, that is how low in the back he was. He grew about 2-3 inches and took off. He did what he was supposed to do in open gym and working hard. He came along." </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->