by Reid Murray ’22
February 25, 2022
On February 23, the USN Boys’ Varsity Basketball team added another landmark moment to its memorable 2021-2022 season: a State Tournament win.
After losing to Goodpasture and Webb (Bell Buckle) in the regional semifinal and consolation games, USN entered the Division II-A State XII as the number four seed from the middle region.
“State XII” is a new name for the first round of the State Tournament, replacing names like “substate” and “sectional.” The State XII round features seeds two through four from the east and west regions, and seeds three and four from the middle region. Each region’s number one seed, as well as the middle region’s second seed, earned a bye into the State Quarterfinals.
Because of their status as a fourth seed, the Tigers had to make a long trip to third seed Evangelical Christian School, which is located in Cordova, TN, just outside of Memphis.
The game began slowly, as ECS didn’t score its first points of the game until six minutes and 38 seconds had passed. However, the Eagles came back in the last minute of the first quarter and had a 9-7 lead at its conclusion.
The second quarter had the same low-scoring feel, and the Eagles held a 21-18 lead going into halftime.
“We’re never gonna get off the bus, warm up for 30 minutes, and shoot really well,” Adrian Samuels ‘22 said. “But I think as the game went on, our shots started falling.”
USN fought back in the second half, tying the game 26-26 at the end of the third quarter, and taking a lead in the fourth quarter. As the shots began to fall for the Tigers, they began to break away on the scoreboard, and took a double-digit lead with 1:36 on the clock, when Josh Scretchen ‘22 scored on an open lay-up.
Adam Miller ‘22 spoke about the importance of having the right attitude for the duration of a difficult game.
Everybody on the team kept motivating each other, and telling each other, ‘it’s okay to shoot more shots’ and to trust each other’s shots, and eventually it will fall, so that’s what we did,”
The final minute of the game was filled with ECS fouls to try to stop the clock, but USN made its free throws, and eventually pulled away with a 51-40 victory. Russ Petty ‘22 highlighted what allowed the Tigers to win despite having a low-scoring night.
“I think most of the time when we’re the more physical team, it goes in our favor, and tonight, I think we were the more physical team … [we were] more aggressive,” he said.
After the game, USN’s players recognized the magnitude of winning a State Tournament game, but kept their focus on the greater goal.
“I think it’s really big for the school. We’ve really had a winning mindset since we’ve been in middle school,” Samuels said. “We’ve all just been working … making sure that this is the year we win State.”
“We know the win is big, but to us, it’s just another step in our season,” Scretchen added.
Although few USN supporters were able to make the long trip to Cordova, the team appreciated the love they received back home. Miller and Petty were especially appreciative of USN’s younger fans, who showed their support with a send-off outside of USN’s Edgehill entrance.
“It means a lot, especially when those little kids came out when we were entering the bus. That really motivated us and pushed us to say that we’re not alone,” Miller said. “We’re not just the team, [we have] the whole USN community behind us.”
“Can we give a shout out to the fourth grader in the yellow [Nashville SC] jersey? Because he was getting us pumped,” Petty said.
USN’s next game will be on Saturday, February 26 at Christian Academy of Knoxville, who is the number one seed from the east region. The Tigers and Warriors have one previous meeting this season, where USN won 60-58 at Goodpasture’s DII Challenge in December. While the Tigers may feel confident they can repeat the result from earlier in the season, Petty knows his team will have to work hard to win.
“We’re not the same team that we were over winter break, and I’m sure they’re not either, so we’re just gonna have to study up, watch a little film, and then I think it’s just gonna be a completely different game,” he said.
“We’re going into this game knowing it’s gonna be a dog fight, but we’ve been in dog fights [for] the whole season, so we’re gonna be ready,” Scretchen added.
Scretchen also had a message about the fans who spent hours driving to Cordova, and those who will head to Knoxville on Saturday to support his team.
“They’re real fans … we’re gonna bring that ring home for them,” he said.
