Two more wins net a title
Wildcats earn regular season district crown
Oak Ridge sophomore Ray’Quan Watson battles for a loose ball at Campbell County High School last week. With a win over Karns, then a win over the Campbell County Cougars, Oak Ridge earned top seed in the district tournament and an automatic place in the region tourney. (photo:Luthor Simmons Photography )
But Coach Aaron Green said his team still has work to do.
The Wildcats (20-3 overall, 9-1 in the district) have regular-season games this week against Alcoa, Clinton and Fulton remaining with the tilts against the Dragons (Thursday) and the Falcons (Saturday) to be on the road.
The Wildcats hosted the Tornadoes Monday for Senior Night, but results were not available at press time.
Next week the real season begins, and by virtue of its regular-season district championship, ORHS has qualified for the Region 2-4A tournament. That’s when the real work begins.
“You never want to take for granted winning, and it’s great to win a league title and I don’t think a lot of people would think we would’ve won it because we had a lot of inexperience and a lot of new faces,” Green said. “But all that does is seed the district tournament and gets us into the region tournament.
“We’ve got to know that and we’ve got to continue to get better and be playing our best basketball over the next two weeks.”
Green knows that won’t be easy, especially after the district finale at Campbell County late last week.
The Wildcats notched a 63-61 victory against the Cougars in Jacksboro, but needed a last-second shot by Ray’Quan Watson to prevail.
“Case in point, Campbell County was 0-9 in the league and we needed a last-second shot to beat them,” Green said. “That just shows you the parity in our league.”
The Wildcats also boasted a balanced attack and needed all the contributions to win.
Brennen Scott led the way with 19 points.
Kaden Brightharp added 10.
Watson and Shamar Greene had nine each.
Grayson Strader finished with eight.
ORHS opened the week with a 54-49 win over Karns at Wildcat Arena on Tuesday, Jan. 31.
Watson scored 13 points, including nine in the fourth quarter, making all six of his free throws over the final eight minutes.