Oak Ridge Today

JMS Principal Phil Cox inducted into basketball hall of fame in Kentucky

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Phil Cox, principal of Jefferson Middle School in Oak Ridge, has been inducted into the Kentucky High School Basketball Hall of Fame. (Photo courtesy Kimberly Cox)

Phil Cox, principal of Jefferson Middle School in Oak Ridge, has been inducted into the Kentucky High School Basketball Hall of Fame. (Photo courtesy Kimberly Cox)

 

Phil Cox, principal of Jefferson Middle School in Oak Ridge, has been inducted into the Kentucky High School Basketball Hall of Fame, according to the Middlesboro (Kentucky) Daily News.

The newspaper reported that Cox, a high school basketball legend, was one of 19 inductees in the 2017 class.

Cox was a standout at Loyall Elementary School, where he played for Hall of Fame member Billy Hicks, and he earned all-state honors by the time he was a junior at Cawood High School, where he averaged 35 points a game, the Daily News said. He was Mr. Basketball in Kentucky as a senior and was, at the time, the all-time leading scorer in Harlan County, with 2,401 points. [Read more…]

Jones named MVP as Wildcats win fifth straight district championship

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The Oak Ridge Wildcats won their fifth straight District 3-AAA championship with an 86-58 victory over Powell at Clinton on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2017. (Photo by Luther Simmons)

The Oak Ridge Wildcats won their fifth straight District 3-AAA championship with an 86-58 victory over Powell at Clinton on Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2017. (Photo by Luther Simmons)

 

CLINTON—Oak Ridge senior Tajion Jones was named most valuable player as the Wildcats won their fifth straight District 3-AAA championship with an 86-58 victory over Powell at Clinton on Tuesday.

Oak Ridge (26-2) will play West, which finished fourth in District 4-AAA, in a first-round Region 2-AAA game at Wildcat Arena at 7 p.m. Saturday. West (15-17) lost to Hardin Valley 64-58 in the third-place District 4 game on Tuesday.

The Wildcats, the top seed in the District 3-AAA basketball tournament, advanced to the district championship at Clinton High School on Tuesday by beating Clinton, which had been the number five seed, 111-77 in a semifinal game on Saturday.

Oak Ridge was led against Powell on Tuesday by senior Anthony Gibson. He scored a game-high 24 points, with 22 of those in the first half. Gibson knocked down three three-point shots.

Jones scored 21, with 12 of those on four three-point shots. Jones, a Mr. Basketball finalist in Class AAA, also had a baseline drive for a dunk. [Read more…]

Tajion Jones a Mr. Basketball finalist

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Oak Ridge Jones Halls Jan 23 2017 Web

Oak Ridge senior Tajion Jones (3) scored 32 points as the Wildcats topped 100 points during an 108-56 win over Halls at Wildcat Arena on Monday, Jan. 23, 2017. (File photo by Luther Simmons)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 1:50 p.m.

Oak Ridge senior Tajion Jones has been named as one of three finalists for Mr. Basketball in Class AAA in Tennessee.

Among other accomplishments, Jones is second on the all-time Oak Ridge list for career three-point shots with 189, according to broadcaster David Clary.

The other two Mr. Basketball finalists in Class AAA are Tyler Harris of Cordova High School and Alex Lomax of Memphis East High School.

It’s the second year in a row that Oak Ridge has had a Mr. Basketball finalist. Last year, Tee Higgins, who was then a junior, was named a finalist.

This year’s finalists were announced Friday by the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association, or TSSAA. The Mr. and Miss Basketball awards will be presented to the top boys and girls in five TSSAA classifications in the Murphy Center at Middle Tennessee State University on Tuesday, March 7. [Read more…]

Higgins won’t play basketball this season in order to focus on football

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This photo is property of Allen Greene. Unauthorized use of this photo is not permitted without consent.

Oak Ridge senior Tee Higgins won’t play basketball for the Wildcats this season in order to focus on football. Higgins (5), who was then a junior, scored 25 points for the Wildcats in a double-overtime 87-85 quarterfinal loss to David Crockett in the Arby’s Classic basketball tournament in Bristol on Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2015. (Photo by Allen Greene/TriCitiesSports.com)

 

Oak Ridge senior Tee Higgins, a standout in football and basketball, confirmed on Sunday that he won’t play basketball for the Wildcats this season in order to focus on football.

Higgins is a wide receiver who has committed to Clemson. He had posted on Twitter on Friday that it was his decision to not play basketball this year.

Higgins, who was listed as 6’5″ and 190 pounds earlier this football season, has been one of the most dynamic players for the Wildcats on the basketball court. He has had the ability to fire up crowds with powerful dunks. (One dunk at Gibbs in December got the attention of ESPN.) Higgins played as a freshman on the 2014 runner-up team in the state championship game, and since then, he’s been a key part of the team and a regular starter, with some memorable clutch free throws and three-point shots in big basketball games.

Higgins was regularly one of the top scorers for the Wildcats, and he was one of three Class AAA Mr. Basketball finalists earlier this year. (You can see the list of finalists and winners here.) He had picked up basketball scholarship offers from Tennessee, Louisville, Auburn, and others, according to PrepXtra at the Knoxville News Sentinel. [Read more…]

Tee Higgins commits to Clemson

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Wildcats Tee Higgins Catch at Ooltewah Nov. 13, 2015

Oak Ridge junior Tee Higgins (5), shown making a playoff catch against Ooltewah on Friday, Nov. 13, 2015, announced Monday, July 4, 2016, that he has committed to Clemson. (File photo by Julio Culiat)

 

Oak Ridge Wildcats wide receiver Tee Higgins has committed to Clemson. Higgins, who will be a senior this fall, announced his decision in a Bleacher Report video posted on Twitter on Monday.

The video shows Higgins, a five-star receiver who had once been committed to Tennessee, at a barbecue cookout with friends and family. It ends with orange and purple fireworks in the sky.

The 247Sports Composite lists the 6-foot-5, 188-pound Higgins as the nation’s third-ranked wide receiver in the 2017 class. Prep Xtra at the Knoxville News Sentinel reported that he is considered the number one overall player in Tennessee.

Higgins, who won a Mr. Football award in November and was also a Mr. Basketball finalist, chose the Tigers over finalists Ohio State, Florida State, Tennessee, and Ole Miss. [Read more…]

Higgins one of three Mr. Basketball finalists in Class AAA

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This photo is property of Allen Greene. Unauthorized use of this photo is not permitted without consent.

Oak Ridge junior Tee Higgins (5) is one of three finalists for Mr. Basketball in Class AAA in Tennessee. (Photo by Allen Greene/TriCitiesSports.com)

 

Note: This story was last updated at 1:45 p.m.

Already named Mr. Football this year, Oak Ridge junior Tee Higgins is now one of three finalists for Mr. Basketball in Class AAA in Tennessee.

The Mr. Basketball finalists were announced Friday.

The other two Class AAA finalists are Nathan Hoover of Arlington and Alex Lomax of Memphis East.

Higgins had earlier committed to play football at the University of Tennessee, but he recently re-opened his recruitment in football and basketball. [Read more…]