The Oak Ridge Wildcats had been scheduled to play West in a Region 2-AAA quarterfinal game today (Saturday, February 23), but the game has been rescheduled to Sunday as heavy rain causes flooding and road closures across the area.
The elimination basketball game is now scheduled for 6 p.m. Sunday at Wildcat Arena at Oak Ridge High School.
The 2018 Region 2-AAA boys’ basketball tournament bracket.
Oak Ridge eliminated Catholic in a Region 2-AAA quarterfinal game at Wildcat Arena on Saturday.
The Wildcats (21-7) advanced to play Bearden (34-1) in a regional semifinal game at Bearden High School at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Oak Ridge was the District 3-AAA runner-up this year, and Bearden was the District 4 champion.
The winner of Tuesday’s semifinal will play in a state sectional game, which determines who goes to the state tournament, and the Region 2-AAA championship at 7 p.m. Thursday. The Tuesday night semifinal is an elimination game, so the season will be over for the loser.
The other semifinal Tuesday is between Powell (20-10), the District 3 champion, and Maryville (25-6), the District 4 runner-up. It’s scheduled to start at 6 p.m. Tuesday, just before the Oak Ridge-Bearden game. [Read more…]
Oak Ridge junior point guard Levert Smith (10) became the single-season assist leader for Oak Ridge, with 187 assists this year, during a 68-38 Region 2-AAA quarterfinal win against West at home on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017. Also pictured are Oak Ridge seniors Tee Higgins (5) and Tajion Jones (3), who became only the second Wildcat to hit his 200th career three-point shot. (Photo by Luther Simmons)
Oak Ridge senior Anthony Gibson again led the Wildcats in a playoff win, this time in a Region 2-AAA quarterfinal win against West at home on Saturday. Here are photos from the game by Luther Simmons. [Read more…]
Oak Ridge senior Anthony Gibson (23) again led the Wildcats in a playoff win, this time in a 68-38 Region 2-AAA quarterfinal win against West at home on Saturday, Feb. 25, 2017. (Photo by Luther Simmons)
Note: This story was updated at 9 a.m. Feb. 28.
Oak Ridge senior Anthony Gibson again led the Wildcats in a playoff win, this time in a Region 2-AAA quarterfinal win against West at home on Saturday.
Gibson, a 6-foot-1 guard, scored a game-high 18 points in the elimination game at Wildcat Arena on Saturday. He had four three-points shots for 12 of those points.
Earlier in the week, on Tuesday, Gibson led Oak Ridge with 24 points as the Wildcats won their fifth straight District 3-AAA championship with an 86-58 defeat of Powell.
With the Region 2 quarterfinal win on Saturday, Oak Ridge advanced to play Maryville at Wildcat Arena at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in a semifinal elimination game. The winner of the Tuesday night Oak Ridge-Maryville game will move on to play in the Region 2-AAA championship. The season will be over for the loser.
“This is the toughest game of the year,” Oak Ridge Coach Aaron Green said. “There’s a lot on the line across the state.” [Read more…]
Pictured above are the top two scorers in the Region 2-AAA quarterfinal elimination game at Wildcat Arena on Friday, Feb. 24, 2017. Oak Ridge sophomore Jada Guinn (24) scored a game high and career high 32 points for the Lady Wildcats in a 62-56 win over Bearden, and Lady Bulldogs junior Trinity Lee (2) scored 25. (Photo by Luther Simmons)
The Oak Ridge Lady Wildcats eliminated Bearden 62-56 in a Region 2-AAA quarterfinal game at home on Friday, despite a high-scoring second-half rally by the Lady Bulldogs. Here are photos by Luther Simmons. [Read more…]
Oak Ridge juniors Jaymi Golden (32), left, and Desiree Bates (20), center, play defense against Bearden junior Trinity Lee (2), who led the Lady Bulldogs with 25 points in a 62-56 loss to the Lady Wildcats in a Region 2-AAA quarterfinal game at Wildcat Arena on Friday, Feb. 24, 2017. (Photo by Luther Simmons)
The Oak Ridge Lady Wildcats eliminated Bearden 62-56 in a Region 2-AAA quarterfinal game at home on Friday, despite a high-scoring second-half rally by the Lady Bulldogs.
After scoring only 15 points in the first half, the Bearden girls scored 41 in the second, narrowing an Oak Ridge lead of 24 points in the third quarter to three points late in the fourth.
“It was a fun ball game,” Oak Ridge Coach Paige Redman said. “They did not back down. They did not quit…They went on a great run. We managed to contain it.”
Bearden (24-4) struggled to make three-point shots in the first three quarters. They made only two, both by junior Trinity Lee. That changed in the fourth quarter, when Lee hit four. She led the Lady Bulldogs with 25 points and had 17 of Bearden’s 27 points in the final quarter. She had all six of Bearden’s three-point shots.
Oak Ridge (27-3) was led by sophomore guard Jada Guinn with 32 points, a game high and career high. Like Lee, Guinn also made six three-point shots. She knocked down four in the second quarter alone. [Read more…]
Oak Ridge senior forward Javien Johnson (11) celebrates during a 39-30 Region 2-AAA quarterfinal win over Farragut at Wildcat Arena on Saturday, Feb. 27, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Note: This story was last updated at 12 p.m.
Farragut had this strategy coming into a Region 2-AAA quarterfinal game against Oak Ridge on Saturday: Limit the number of possessions, shorten the game, keep the score low, and play as little defense as possible.
The goal: Hold the ball for two minutes at a time, or about one-fourth of an eight-minute quarter.
For a while, it worked. Oak Ridge (32-2) found itself in the unusual position of being down two points at halftime, 17-15. But the Wildcats, the District 3 champion, found a way to win in the second half and they eked out a 39-30 victory to advance to a Region 2-AAA semifinal against Powell at Wildcat Arena on Tuesday.
“I’m just proud of our guys for getting it done,” Oak Ridge Coach Aaron Green said.
The Farragut strategy bewildered, frustrated, and irritated Oak Ridge fans. Fans and players called it “keep away” or “stall ball.” It’s a strategy often used near the end of a half or quarter, maybe when there is a minute or so remaining and a team wants the last shot, but it’s generally not used throughout a game. [Read more…]
The Oak Ridge Lady Wildcats advanced to the Region 2-AAA semifinal behind the 21 points of sophomore Mykia Dowdell (34) and a 58-32 win over Heritage at Wildcat Arena on Friday, Feb. 26, 2016. (Photo by John Huotari/Oak Ridge Today)
Note: This story was last updated at 11:30 p.m.
The Oak Ridge Lady Wildcats advanced to the Region 2-AAA semifinal behind the game-high 21 points of sophomore Mykia Dowdell and a 58-32 win over Heritage at Wildcat Arena on Friday.
It’s the second time this week a Lady Wildcat has scored 21 points in a playoff game. On Tuesday, it was freshman Jada Guinn, in the District 3-AAA championship. On Friday, it was Dowdell in a Region 2-AAA elimination quarterfinal.
It’s the first time the Lady Wildcats (25-4) have advanced to the regional semifinals since 2010, according to broadcaster David Clary. [Read more…]
