Can anyone catch Beech? D7 Notebook (4A)

PICTURED: Grafton Graves Grafton Graves 6'4" | SF/SG Wilson Central | 2027 State TN

Thanks to an assortment of veterans Beech continues to run away with D7-4A. Can anybody catch them?

"That is going to be tough," said Green Hill Head Coach Nate Stewart Monday evening. "Obviously, Cutter Sisk Cutter Sisk 6'8" | PF Beech | 2026 State TN is one of the best players in the state and adding the point guard from Chatt Prep (Demarion Bowman) was a huge deal for them...They are going to be tough to catch."

Currently, Lebanon, Hendersonville, and Green Hill (winners of 4 of 5) are closest as Wilson Central sputters drastically in the last two weeks. Mt. Juliet and Gallatin are buried at the bottom.

Beech Senior (Hendersonville, TN)
Friday Focus: Hendersonville and Gallatin area evaluations

Gallatin (Gallatin, TN)
Two years away. Freshman Braylon Boone Braylon Boone 5'11" | PG Gallatin | 2029 TN and sophomore Thomas Oglesby Thomas Oglesby 6'3" | SF/SG Gallatin | 2028 State TN showed promise in a home loss to Beech though they need seasoning and strength.

Green Hill (Mt. Juliet, TN
See below.

Hendersonville (Hendersonville, TN)

Commandos sport a 3-1 district home record and won their last three D7 games dating back to January 13th.

Lebanon (Lebanon, TN)
Enjoying a turnaround in district play.

Mt. Juliet (Mt. Juliet, TN)
Enduring a terrible, terrible year. Know that their two best players emigrated to Montgomery Bell Academy, but regardless this year is a disaster in the loss column.

Wilson Central (Lebanon, TN)
Perhaps no team statewide enjoyed and endured a more turbulent season, much like that of a roller-coaster. They were bad, then great, then bad again. What will the next stretch include? Wilson Central Head Coach Jim Frey runs out a pretty good roster though they make lack a star. There is depth and some young skill. Grafton Graves Grafton Graves 6'4" | SF/SG Wilson Central | 2027 State TN (pictured above) truly outworks many opponents. The guy is a versatile combo forward with some small college potential.

Monday January 26th Green Hill Head Coach Nate Stewart shared his time in a phone interview with @PrepHoopsTN.

You are on a nice run. Four in a row?
We lost to Beech in between there. But we have won four of the last five. Just think we have built into this. The season is a process. We have just shot the ball really well.

Any players playing better than you expected in the last 2-3 weeks?
Christian Bright Christian Bright 6'3" | SG/SF Green Hill | 2027 State TN . He is a junior. And Jack McChurch Jack McChurch 5'10" | PG/SG Green Hill | 2026 State TN have both done a really good job leading us in scoring. And Mason Bates has started playing really well, as well.

Christian is a guy I have known for 2 years. He seems to now and has before taken basketball abnormally seriously for a young man. Do you see that trait in him?
[Laughter]. He is extremely just mature. He is one of our leaders. He is a very driven young man. What he has done this year from last year is pretty incredible. We talked at the end of last year that in order for him to take the next step was for him to become a better three-point shooter. Now he is one of the best shooters in the district. He has put in a lot of work to get to this point.

How is [sophomore] Leyton Plummer Leyton Plummer 6'6" | SF/PF Green Hill | 2028 State TN developing? He is a guy I have been excited about.
He is developing great. At the beginning of the year, we were not sure how many varsity minutes he was going to be able to get. Through injuries and other things, he was able to play a lot and he took advantage of it.

Jaylen Searcy Jaylen Searcy 6'4" | SF/SG Greenhill | 2026 TN was out the last two games and Leyton started. He has done really well competing against quality bigs.

What kind of senior class is this? How does it compare to other groups you have seen?
We only had 4 seniors going into the year and LJ Foster tore his ACL. We are down to 3. [They are] three really important players for us. Two guys that play close to 30 minutes a game. They are vital players to us. Character-wise it is right up there with the top. They are great kids that work really hard.

Have you guys dealt with any bigger/ stronger guards checking Jack this year? He camped with me awhile back and my biggest worry was that he might get bullied by bigger guards despite his skill and offensive awareness.
He does a really good job of being selective when he attacks. He doesn't often take bad shots. There have been times where we struggled offensively and he has had to force the issue. He has a real knack of splitting double-teams. And gets by with his first-step.

Green Hill hosts Gallatin Friday night for their next game. The Green Wave won the first matchup January 6th.