MURFREESBORO—Oak Ridge beat Brentwood 53-45 in a state quarterfinal basketball game on Wednesday to advance to a semifinal game against Memphis East on Friday. Here are photos by Luther Simmons. [Read more…]
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MURFREESBORO—Oak Ridge beat Brentwood 53-45 in a state quarterfinal basketball game on Wednesday to advance to a semifinal game against Memphis East on Friday. Here are photos by Luther Simmons. [Read more…]
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MURFREESBORO—Oak Ridge beat Brentwood 53-45 in a state quarterfinal basketball game on Wednesday to advance to a semifinal game against Memphis East on Friday. Here are photos from the quarterfinal game by Kindell Moore. [Read more…]
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Note: This story was last updated at 6:35 p.m. March 16.
MURFREESBORO—Oak Ridge beat Brentwood 53-45 in a state quarterfinal basketball game on Wednesday to advance to a semifinal game against Memphis East on Friday.
It’s the farthest the Wildcats have made it in the Class AAA state tournament since 2014, when they finished as state runner-up, losing 60-58 to Blackman.
Oak Ridge and Brentwood hadn’t played before. The Wednesday afternoon quarterfinal game in Murphy Center at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro was the last of the four Class AAA games. It was the closest of those four games in the BlueCross Basketball Championships. Oak Ridge led by one point, 20-19, at halftime.
The Wildcats (31-2) were led by senior Tyshawn Young with 18 points and nine rebounds. Young was 6-of-6 from the free throw line.
Oak Ridge senior Tee Higgins, who has signed to play football at Clemson, had 16 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, two spectacular blocks, and a dunk on a lob pass, as well as another one after driving up the lane. [Read more…]
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Oak Ridge led Brentwood 20-19 at halftime of a Class AAA boys’ state quarterfinal game in Murfreesboro.
The Wildcats were led in the first half by senior Tyshawn Young with 10 points and six rebounds.
The Bruins were led by senior Kellen King with eight points.
The game remained close in the start of the second half, with the Wildcats ahead 35-32 with 2:09 remaining in the third quarter. [Read more…]
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Oak Ridge (30-2) will play Brentwood (26-8) in a quarterfinal game in the Class AAA boys’ state basketball tournament on Wednesday.
The Oak Ridge-Brentwood game starts at 2:45 p.m. Central time (3:45 Eastern) on Wednesday, March 15, in Murphy Center at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro.
Here are the other three quarterfinal games on Wednesday: [Read more…]
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KNOXVILLE—Oak Ridge senior Jake Etheridge and the boys’ cross country team finished first in the Region 2-AAA meet in Knoxville on Thursday, and they will race in the state meet next Saturday.
It’s the third regional championship in a row for the boys’ team. It’s the second year in a row for Oak Ridge to have the top male racer. Gashaw Duhamel, who ran for Oak Ridge as a senior last year, was the top runner last year.
The boys’ cross country team finished as state runner-up in 2015. Brentwood, a Nashville area school, was state champion with two of the three top runners (one a sophomore and one a junior), and that team is considered a favorite again this year. Other top teams this year include Daniel Boone of upper East Tennessee, which has been a strong team, and Wilson Central of Nashville.
Etheridge led the entire 5,000-meter, or 5k, run during the Region 2-AAA meet at Victor Ashe Park in Knoxville on Thursday.
“I got out hard, and I kept going,” said Etheridge, who finished with a time of 16:27.87. That was about 13 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher, Seth Bowden of Maryville High School. [Read more…]
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NASHVILLE—The Oak Ridge High School boys team finished second in Tennessee during the 2015 state cross country meet in Nashville on Saturday. Brentwood finished first.
Senior Gashaw Duhamel was the top runner for Oak Ridge, the runner-up in the Division IÂ Class AAA boys race. It was a 5,000-meter, or 5k, race. Duhamel finished 10th, with a time of 16:20.01 on the muddy course on a chilly, overcast Saturday morning.
Brentwood had two of the top three runners: sophomore Brodey Hasty, who was first with a time of 15:35.09, and junior Taylor Vroon, who finished third with a time of 15:50.85.
Oak Ridge senior Tyler Boullie was 16th, crossing the finish line at Percy Warner Park Steeplechase Course at 16:36.85.
Also in the top five for the Wildcats, meaning their scores were included in the team total, were senior Thomas Colburn, who finished 20th at 16:40.94; junior Jacob “Jake†Etheridge, who was 22nd with a time of 16:43.07; and sophomore Jose Villegas, who finished 27th at 16:45.09. [Read more…]
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They battled to close finishes in two games, but Farragut fell to Brentwood 3-0 in the state volleyball Class AAA championship in Murfreesboro on Friday. It was the second time in two years that the Lady Admirals made it to the state final only to lose to the Lady Bruins.
Brentwood beat Farragut in three straight sets in Murfreesboro on Friday: 25-23, 25-16, and 27-25.
But the Lady Admirals, who are Class AAA runner-ups, fought until the end, pushing the final third set past 25 points. They occasionally took the lead and often kept the games within a few points. Brentwood won by only two points in two of the sets.
“I was proud of our girls,” Farragut Coach Susan Davidson said. [Read more…]
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After falling behind by 12 points, Oak Ridge narrowed the Memphis East lead to two in a fourth-quarter comeback sparked by junior Darel Middleton, but it wasn’t enough as the Wildcats lost to the Mustangs in a state quarterfinal game in Murfreesboro on Wednesday.
It’s the end of the season for the Wildcats (29-4), who played their last game with senior Ted Mitchell.
Sophomore Tajion Jones hit four three-pointers for Oak Ridge in the BlueCross Basketball Championship game at Murphy Center at Middle Tennessee State University. Three of those were in the first two quarters, and they helped give the Wildcats a 30-28 lead at halftime. [Read more…]
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The Oak Ridge High School boys’ and girls’ cross country teams, both coming off fantastic first-place finishes at regionals in late October, competed in the state championship 5k run in Nashville on Saturday. The boys’ team finished third, and the girls finished ninth.
The girls ran better than their ninth-place finish suggests. Freshman Katharina Gallmeier led the way in running for the Lady Wildcats with a 46th place finish at 20:30:95, followed shortly by senior Aislyn Peacock. Peacock ran a 20:37:41 and finished 49th.
Following closely behind these two was junior Megan Peters, who finished 57th with a time of 20:49:08. Freshman Robyn Wood finished 70th with a 21:05:81, and sophomore Maddie Zawisza finished 72nd with a 21:10:75. Freshman Esther Gallmeier finished 98th with a 21:42:37, and junior Mallika Vohra rounded out the team with a 22:04:80 finish at 109th. [Read more…]
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MURFREESBORO—The Oak Ridge Wildcats gave up an 11-point lead in a series of turnovers in the fourth quarter before losing to the Blackman Blaze 60-58 in a state championship game in Murfreesboro on Saturday.
Wildcats senior Jaylin Henderson had a game-high 24 points in the Class AAA final, but it wasn’t enough to overcome the combined scoring of four Blaze players who scored 10 or more each. The Wildcats were named 2014 State Runner-Up.
Oak Ridge (32-8) looked like it was headed to victory in the third quarter and early in the fourth, but the Blaze (28-6) stepped up the pressure and the Wildcats weren’t able to protect the ball.
Oak Ridge Coach Aaron Green said a series of five fourth-quarter turnovers, including back-to-back steals, shifted the momentum. Many of the Wildcats’ turnovers led to easy layups, and the Blaze went on a 14-0 scoring run at the Murphy Center at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro. [Read more…]
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MURFREESBORO—Oak Ridge advanced to the state semifinals for the first time since 1999 with a 66-45 win over Jefferson County in Murfreesboro on Wednesday.
The Wildcats (31-7) will play Arlington (29-4) in Murfreesboro at 11:30 a.m. CDT Friday (12:30 p.m. EDT) in a Class AAA state boys’ basketball semifinal game.
The Wildcats said teamwork was key to the Wednesday afternoon quarterfinal win at Murphy Center at Middle Tennessee State University. They cited steals—Oak Ridge had nine total—double-teaming on defense against the tall Patriots team, and improvements in rebounding compared to their performance during a Nov. 27 win over Jefferson County (30-6).
“We played more as a team,” said senior guard Jaylin Henderson, who scored 11 points and had four steals. “I think we were hot.” [Read more…]