Rivals Walker Valley and Bradley Central enter Regional Favorites

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><em>PICTURED: Walker Valley</em></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>A handful of Region 3-4A teams justifiably believe they can win the entire Regional Tournament. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Howard (6-22) at Walker Valley (27-3)</strong></h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Walker Valley Mustangs embody the proverbial phrase "the whole is&nbsp;greater than the sum of its parts.” No one or two players on the Mustangs leap off of the page, and yet they won 27 games before March thanks to their high energy and balanced scoring. Sophomore <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2754640' first='Zach' last='Davis'] </strong>played very well in the District Championship win and he completely stuffed a jumpshooter in the second quarter. When <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2682998' first='Graham' last='Campbell']</strong> gets to the free throw line the team is one of the Top 4 east of Nashville.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Rhea County (21-13) at East Hamilton (18-6)</strong></h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>East Hamilton must deal with the best first round road opponent. Rhea County Head Coach Brien Crowder reached 1,000 career games coached January 4th. This team is peaking at the right time, he views.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"We have won 21 games and lost three or four that we shouldn't have lost," said Rhea County Coach Brien Crowder. "We lost 64-60. Depends which team shows up. We are kind of inconsistent here and there. Caleb has played well. Two or three days before practicing he broke his pinky. It was a twist break and he missed 3-4 games starting the season. Earlier in the season he dislocates his right pinky. He has been playing with both pinkies taped up. He made All-District Team and averages double figures. He has been very valuable. He had a brace on one and a soft cast on another. He persevered. He got his 1000th point. We have a 7-man rotation.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"We are playing about as good as we can play."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Cleveland (11-16) at Bradley Central (20-8)</strong></h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Rivals Cleveland and Bradley Central appear to be headed in opposite directions as Cleveland is in the midst of an 11-game losing streak. For a couple of those games the Blue Raiders played well enough to win, but just came up short, including the East Hamilton overtime loss and a two-point drop to Rhea County.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"At our place [hosting Bradley Central] we were up 11 going into the 4th and kind of gave it away," said Cleveland Head Coach Reggie Tucker. "At their place we were up at the half. Consistency has been our biggest issue. We just haven't been consistent all year. We had some young guys really step up. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2791757' first='Jayvon' last='James']</strong>. He has a chance to be special. 6'5" sophomore. I moved him into the starting rotation. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2791795' first='Gabe' last='Krepps'] </strong>is a sophomore. Really playing well for us. It is going to be a great challenge for us. A rivalry game. If we stick to the game plan and execute well...our attention to detail needs to be very, very good these next two dates in practice."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"We started off strong this year," said Coach Tucker. "We were 10-3 at one point and now we are 12-16. We were up 9 in the fourth quarter at East Hamilton. Up at Rhea the whole game pretty much and gave it away. Inconsistent. We have very inconsistent with our point guard play. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='2101745' first='Baraka' last='Ndegwa']</strong> has been up and down. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1477573' first='Maguire' last='Evans'] </strong>has not really shot it great like he usually does. <strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1664321' first='Timothy' last='Matthews']</strong> still learning how to play the right way. Off the ball defensively he struggled. He improved big time since he has been with us. We kept [Tyrese] Stovall to 6 points and lost."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>"[<strong>[player_tooltip player_id='1858645' first='Andrew' last='Miolen']</strong>] guarded the other team's best player," shared Coach Tucker. He made All-Tournament which is well-deserved. His sophomore year he played behind <strong>Alex Hyder</strong> and<strong> Jasen Brooks</strong>. This year he stepped into a scoring role. Being aggressive."</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading --> <h2 class="wp-block-heading"><strong>Ooltewah (6-21) at McMinn County (17-12)</strong></h2> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Cherokees will coast, possibly setting up a potential titanic clash with Bradley Central.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->