Oak Ridge Today

Houston defeats Oak Ridge in state semifinal

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A tall, talented Houston team with several future Division I basketball players eliminated Oak Ridge 77-45 in a Class AAA state semifinal tournament game in Murfreesboro on Friday, March 19, 2021. (Photo by Zack James)

A tall, talented Houston team with several future Division I basketball players eliminated Oak Ridge 77-45 in a Class AAA state semifinal tournament game in Murfreesboro on Friday.

Oak Ridge (28-6) took an early 6-0 lead in the BlueCross Basketball Championships game at Middle Tennessee State University. But after Houston (22-3) took the lead with about three minutes left in the first quarter, the Mustangs never gave it up and they led by as many as 33 points.

Still, Oak Ridge was down by only eight points, 29-21, at halftime.

However, the Mustangs outscored the Wildcats 33-10 in the third quarter and had a 62-31 lead going into the final quarter. Houston senior forward Zander Yates (6-foot-8) scored 14 points in less than two minutes in the third quarter to help open up that lead for the Mustangs.

Houston, a team from Germantown east of Memphis, had four starters, including Yates, who are 6-foot-6 or taller. Oak Ridge had one, 6-foot-8 senior center Jonathan Milloway. The Mustangs had a rebounding advantage, 40 to 27, and they also shot 50 percent from the field (26 of 52) and almost 50 percent from beyond the three-point line (11 of 23).

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Basketball photos from state quarterfinal game

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Oak Ridge advanced to a state semifinal basketball game on Friday, March 19, 2021, with a 68-57 win over Siegel in a Class AAA quarterfinal game in Murfreesboro on Thursday. Pictured above shooting a jump shot is Oak Ridge senior Jeremy Miller (23). (Photo by Zack James)

Oak Ridge advanced to a state semifinal basketball game on Friday with a 68-57 win over Siegel in a Class AAA quarterfinal game on Thursday.

Here are photos of Thursday’s game by Zack James.

The Wildcats (28-5) will play Houston (19-3) of Germantown, east of Memphis, at 8:30 p.m. Central time Friday in a semifinal game in the BlueCross Basketball Championships at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro.

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Wildcats advance to state semifinal with win over Siegel

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Oak Ridge advanced to a state semifinal basketball game on Friday, March 19, 2021, with a 68-57 win over Siegel in a Class AAA quarterfinal game in Murfreesboro on Thursday. Pictured above shooting a free throw is Oak Ridge senior Jonathan Milloway (21). (Photo by Zack James)

Note: This story was last updated at 12 p.m. March 19.

Oak Ridge advanced to a state semifinal basketball game on Friday with a 68-57 win over Siegel in a Class AAA quarterfinal game on Thursday.

The Wildcats (28-5) will play Houston (21-3) of Germantown, east of Memphis, at 8:30 p.m. Central time Friday. The BlueCross Basketball Championships are in Murphy Center at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro.

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Basketball: Wildcats play in sectional game Monday

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Oak Ridge won the District 3-AAA championship game 76-61 against Clinton at Wildcat Arena on Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2021. (Photo by Zack James/used with permission)

They won the District 3-AAA championship game against Clinton. They advanced to the Region 2 championship game by defeating West and Maryville in quarterfinal and semifinal games.

On Thursday, in the championship game, they finished second in the region, losing 55-52 to Bearden after narrowing a 15-point Bulldogs lead late in the third quarter to one point late in the fourth.

Tonight, Monday, March 8, the Oak Ridge Wildcats (26-5) will play for a chance to compete in the state basketball tournament. They will travel to Dobyns-Bennett (25-4) in Kingsport in upper East Tennessee for one of eight Class AAA sectional games across the state. The winners of the sectional games advance to the state tournament in Murfreesboro, and the season is over for the losers.

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Basketball: Girls, boys play for district championships

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The Oak Ridge boys and girls basketball teams will play for district championships on Monday and Tuesday. It’s the sixth consecutive trip to the district championship game for the girls and the ninth for the boys.

The Lady Wildcats (19-4) will play Powell (15-3) for the District 3-AAA girls championship at 7 p.m. Monday, February 22, in Wildcat Arena. The two teams also played for the district championship last year. Oak Ridge won that game 64-53.

Coached by Paige Taylor, Oak Ridge won district championships in each of the past five seasons, including two victories over Powell.

In the boys tournament, the Wildcats (23-4) will play Clinton (16-4) at 7 p.m. Tuesday, also in Wildcat Arena. The two teams also played for the district championship last year. Oak Ridge won that game 73-69.

The Wildcats have won the past two district championships. They are coached by Aaron Green, who recently achieved his 300th victory in 11 years.

The winners and losers of the district championship games this week will advance to the Region 2-AAA tournaments.

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After win over Catholic, Wildcats play for Region 2 championship

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The Oak Ridge Wildcats were led by senior guard Marcus Smith (2), pictured above during a district tournament game on Feb. 18, 2019, with a game-high 23 points against Catholic in a Region 2-AAA semifinal game on Tuesday, Feb. 26. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The Oak Ridge Wildcats were led by senior guard Marcus Smith (2), pictured above during a district tournament game on Feb. 18, 2019, with a game-high 23 points against Catholic in a Region 2-AAA semifinal game on Tuesday, Feb. 26. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Oak Ridge will play Bearden in the Region 2-AAA boys basketball championship at Wildcat Arena this evening (Thursday, February 28).

Oak Ridge (26-5), the District 3 champion, advanced by defeating Knoxville Catholic 65-58 in a semifinal elimination game at home on Tuesday.

Bearden (27-5), the District 4 champion and defending Region 2 champion, advanced by beating Maryville 55-43 in the other semifinal game at Wildcat Arena on Tuesday.

The Wildcats were led by senior guard Marcus Smith with a game-high 23 points against Catholic. Senior guard Herbert Booker scored 16 points, and he had at least five steals. Senior guard JaVonte Thomas added 15, and he had at least five rebounds.

The Fighting Irish (25-7), the District 4 runner-up, were led by 6-foot-9 junior forward Akeem Odusipe, who scored 19 points and had at least seven rebounds and three blocks. Freshman Presley Patterson added 13 points, including on three three-point shots, and senior Ryan MacDonald and freshman Brian Edwards each scored 10 for Catholic. Edwards also had at least eight rebounds. [Read more…]

Wildcats win district championship, then beat West in regional game

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The Oak Ridge Wildcats won the District 3-AAA basketball championship with a 75-65 win over Karns on Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

The Oak Ridge Wildcats won the District 3-AAA basketball championship with a 75-65 win over Karns on Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was updated at 3:20 p.m. Feb. 28.

Oak Ridge won the District 3-AAA basketball championship with a 75-65 win over Karns on Wednesday, and the Wildcats won a Region 2 quarterfinal game with a 78-63 victory over West at home on Sunday.

The Wildcats (25-5) will play Knoxville Catholic (25-6), the District 4 runner-up, in a regional semifinal at Wildcat Arena this evening (Tuesday, February 26).

Oak Ridge senior Marcus Smith scored 41 points during the championship win over Karns on Wednesday, with 26 points in just the fourth quarter. Eleven of those points were from free throws. Smith was named most valuable player of the district tournament.

On Sunday, Wildcats senior JaVonte Thomas scored 30 points in the Region 2 quarterfinal win over West at Wildcat Arena. Smith and Thomas have been the Wildcats’ top two scorers. Like Smith, Thomas was named to the District 3 All-Tournament Team last week.

The other semifinal game at Wildcat Arena this evening will feature Bearden (26-5), the District 4 champion, and Maryville (28-3), the number three seed from District 4. Oak Ridge is the only District 3 team in the regional tournament. [Read more…]

Baseball: Regular season ends this week, district tournament begins

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Oak Ridge senior pitcher Seth Caldwell (0) is pictured above during a 9-1 win over Campbell County at Bobby Hopkins Park in Oak Ridge on Tuesday, April 24, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

Oak Ridge senior pitcher Seth Caldwell (0) is pictured above during a 9-1 win over Campbell County at Bobby Hopkins Park in Oak Ridge on Tuesday, April 24, 2018. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)

 

Note: This story was updated at 8:05 p.m.

The regular baseball season ends this week, and the district tournament begins.

As of Tuesday, Oak Ridge was 15-11 overall and 7-6 in District 3-AAA.

In their last district game, at home on Tuesday, the Wildcats beat Campbell County 9-1. They were scheduled to play their final regular-season district game, a rescheduled game, at Campbell County this afternoon (Sunday, April 29).

Oak Ridge will play a a non-district game at Walker Valley in Cleveland on Monday and a throwback game using wooden bats at Farragut on Tuesday.

The district tournament starts on Thursday, and games will be hosted by the top two seeds, which could be Karns and either Halls or Powell. [Read more…]