• About
    • About Us
    • What We Cover
  • Advertise
    • Advertise
    • Our Advertisers
  • Contact
  • Donate
  • Send News
  • Subscribe

Oak Ridge Today

  • Home
  • Sign in
  • News
    • Business
    • Community
    • Education
    • Government
    • Health
    • Police and Fire
    • U.S. Department of Energy
    • Weather
  • Sports
    • High School
    • Middle School
    • Recreation
    • Rowing
    • Youth
  • Entertainment
    • Arts
    • Dancing
    • Movies
    • Music
    • Television
    • Theater
  • Premium Content
  • Obituaries
  • Classifieds

 

After finishing second in region, Wildcats’ season ends at Sevier County

Posted at 2:25 pm March 5, 2019
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

The Oak Ridge Wildcats finished as runner-up in Region 2-AAA with a 65-51 loss to Bearden in the championship game at Wildcat Arena on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The Oak Ridge Wildcats finished as runner-up in Region 2-AAA with a 65-51 loss to Bearden in the championship game at Wildcat Arena on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Oak Ridge finished second in Region 2-AAA after a 65-51 loss to Bearden in the championship game on Thursday, and the Wildcats’ season ended with a 62-57 loss at Sevier County in a sectional game on Monday.

Oak Ridge (26-7) trailed in both games from start to finish, although the Wildcats narrowed the Smoky Bears’ lead to one point in the final minute before Sevier County (25-6) pulled away on free throws in the Class AAA sectional game on Monday.

The sectional games determine which teams go to the state basketball tournaments at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro this month. The winners of the sectional games advance to the state tournaments, and the season is over for the teams that lose.

It’s Sevier County’s first trip to the state tournament since 1991. The Smoky Bears are one of only eight teams in Division I, Class AAA, to play in the state tournament. Bearden is another.

Oak Ridge last went to the state tournament in 2017, when the Wildcats were eliminated 63-60 by Memphis East in a semifinal game.

Advertisement

Oak Ridge senior Marcus Smith, the team’s scoring leader, led the Wildcats with a game-high 23 points at Sevier County on Monday.

The Smoky Bears were led by junior Marvin Castro, who scored 13 points and made the final two free throws to seal the win.

Sevier County junior Wes Maples added 12 points for the Smoky Bears, sophomore Cam Burden and junior Camden McElhaney each scored 11, and senior Jake Agee had nine, according to preliminary statistics by Mark Haste, who is part of the Oak Ridge Wildcats and Prepradio.com broadcast crew.

Burden was 9-of-12 from the free throw line, and McElhaney made three three-point shots in the first quarter, when Sevier County took a 20-8 lead less than six minutes into the game.

Besides Smith, the only other player in double digits for Oak Ridge was senior Herbert Booker, who scored 10 points, according to Haste’s stats.

Oak Ridge had foul trouble, with three players fouling out with five fouls, including senior JaVonte Thomas, the team’s second-leading scorer, and two others (Smith and Booker) playing with four fouls each.

Sevier County went to the free throw line more than twice as often as Oak Ridge, and the Smoky Bears were 27-of-36, compared to 11-of-14 for the Wildcats, Haste said.

Oak Ridge was 17-of-29 from two-point range, compared to 10-of-22 for Sevier County, but the Smoky Bears shot 5-of-12 from beyond the three-point line, compared to 4-of-19 for the Wildcats, Haste said.

Advertisement

Sevier County led at the end of all four quarters: 22-13, 36-25, 45-38, and 62-57.

While Sevier County, the Region 1 champion, advanced to the state tournament with the win over Oak Ridge, Bearden (29-5), the Region 2 champion, advanced with a 46-40 win over Dobyns-Bennett (30-5), the Region 1 runner-up, in another Class AAA sectional on Monday.

Sevier County beat Dobyns-Bennett 56-55 in the Region 1-AAA championship at Daniel Boone in upper East Tennessee on Thursday to host Oak Ridge in the sectional game on Monday.

Oak Ridge trailed the entire game against Bearden in the Region 2-AAA championship at Wildcat Arena on Thursday. The Bulldogs led 18-5 at the end of the first quarter, 31-25 at halftime, and 50-40 at the end of the third quarter.

With the win at Oak Ridge on Thursday, Bearden has won the Region 2-AAA championship two years in a row. After winning the regional championship last year, the Bulldogs made it to the Class AAA tournament semifinals, where they were eliminated in a 72-60 loss to Memphis East. The year before, in 2017, Bearden made it to the state tournament quarterfinals, where they lost to Independence 63-48.

Oak Ridge last won the Region 2-AAA championship in 2017.

Last year, the Wildcats were eliminated in the regional tournament with a 71-57 loss at Bearden in the semifinals.

Advertisement

Oak Ridge was the District 3-AAA champion this year, and Bearden was the District 4 champion.

Oak Ridge was led by Smith with 18 points against Bearden on Thursday. Thomas scored 10, and senior Joe Kesterson added nine, all on three-point shots.

Bearden was led by senior Shamarcus Brown with a game-high 20 points. Senior Ques Glover scored 16, Trent Stephney had 10, Roman Robinson had nine, and Drew Pember had eight.

Pember, who is 6-foot-10 and has signed to play at the University of Tennessee, had at least 10 rebounds for Bearden, two dunks, and at least seven blocks, sometimes on back-to-back shots by Oak Ridge. Brown had at least eight rebounds, and Stephney had at least five.

Oak Ridge was 5-of-6 from the free throw line, and Bearden was 18-of-20.

This was Oak Ridge’s sixth time to play in the Region 2-AAA championship game in the past seven years, with three wins and three losses, according to records kept by CoachT.com.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

Oak Ridge players named to the All Tournament Team after the Region 2-AAA championship game at Wildcat Arena on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, are seniors JaVonte Thomas (3), left; Herbert Booker (10), center; and most valuable player Marcus Smith (2). (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Oak Ridge players named to the All Tournament Team after the Region 2-AAA championship game at Wildcat Arena on Thursday, Feb. 28, 2019, were seniors JaVonte Thomas (3), left; Herbert Booker (10), center; and most valuable player Marcus Smith (2). (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Most news stories on Oak Ridge Today are free, brought to you by Oak Ridge Today with help from our advertisers, contributors, and subscribers. This is a free story. Thank you to our advertisers, contributors, and subscribers. You can see what we cover here.

Do you appreciate this story or our work in general? If so, please consider a monthly subscription to Oak Ridge Today. See our Subscribe page here. Thank you for reading Oak Ridge Today.

Copyright 2019 Oak Ridge Today. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Filed Under: Front Page News, High School, Sports Tagged With: basketball, Bearden, Bulldogs, Cam Burden, Camden McElhaney, Class AAA sectional, Dobyns-Bennett, Drew Pember, Herbert Booker, Jake Agee, JaVonte Thomas, Joe Kesterson, Marcus Smith, Mark Haste, Marvin Castro, Oak Ridge, Ques Glover, Region 2-AAA championship, Sevier County, Smoky Bears, state basketball tournament, Trent Stephney, Wes Maples, Wildcats

Advertisements

 


Join the club!

If you appreciate our work, please consider subscribing. Besides helping us, your subscription will give you access to our premium content.

Some of our stories are free, brought to you by Oak Ridge Today with help from our members—advertisers, subscribers, and sponsors.

But some are premium content, available only to members. Those are in-depth, investigative, or exclusive stories that are available only on Oak Ridge Today. They generally require significant time to report, write, and publish.

You can subscribe for as little as $5 per month.

You can read more about your options here.

We currently offer five primary subscription options to readers, and they include benefits.

Basic

  • Basic monthly subscription ($5 per month)—access premium content
  • Basic annual subscription ($60 per year)—access premium content

Pro

  • Pro monthly subscription ($10 per month)—access premium content, get breaking news emails first, and submit one press release or public service announcement per month
  • Pro annual subscription ($100 per year)—save $20 per year, access premium content, get breaking news emails first, and submit one press release or public service announcement per month

Temporary

  • Temporary access ($3 per week for two weeks)

We also have advanced subscription options. You can see them here.

We also accept donations. You can donate here.

If you prefer to send a check for a subscription or donation, you may do so by mailing one to:

Oak Ridge Today
P.O. Box 6064
Oak Ridge, TN 37831

Thank you for your consideration and for reading Oak Ridge Today. We appreciate your support.

Commenting Guidelines

We welcome comments, but we ask you to follow a few guidelines:

1) Please use your real name, including last name. Please also use a valid e-mail address.
2) Be civil. Don't insult others, attack their character, or get personal.
3) Stick to the issues.
4) No profanity.
5) Keep your comments to a reasonable length and to a reasonable number per article.

We reserve the right to remove any comments that violate these guidelines. Comments held for review, usually from those posting for the first time, may not post if they violate these guidelines. Thank you for your patience and understanding. Thank you also for reading Oak Ridge Today and for participating in the discussion.

More information is available here.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

  • Presentation: Laws & children of different sexual identities
  • CNC Bootcamp returns to Oak Ridge High School this spring
  • Roane State Dental Clinic offering free cleanings for kids
  • UCOR announces management change
  • Y-12 honored with DOE sustainability partnership award
  • Trapuzzano receives Eugene L. Joyce Achievement Award
  • Obituaries: Jan. 28-Feb. 1, 2023
  • Basketball: Wildcats beat West in rematch
  • Basketball: Lady Wildcats undefeated in district
  • Obituaries: Jan. 23-27, 2023

Search Oak Ridge Today

About Us

About Oak Ridge Today
What We Cover

How To

Advertise
Subscribe

Contact Us

Contact Oak Ridge Today

Copyright © 2023 Oak Ridge Today